The Hogwarts Reform
by Audacia's Quill
Summary: slash/yaoi, full warnings are inside Summary: "The world suspects that Voldemort is back following the DoM break-in, everyone is prepared to the neck for all out war, and Harry has to hide his darkness from the Shadows themselves and Ryou has a crush...
1. The Hogwarts Reform

**Senior Year**

_YGOxHP Yaoi meaning SLASH, M to cover my ass for the future violence, disturbing, sensitive topics touched here and if and when I choose to throw in LEMON. Undetermined permanent pairings, adult situations. A. U. OOC Post OotP. Bisexual!Harry in most of my stories because…I feel evil…and it to be more likely then a gay!Harry as his –albeit poor- romantic history with females is still there. In this story...YGO comes at the second or third chapter..._

_**ANNOUNCEMENTS**__: For those of you following "__**The Boy Who Ran**__," it'll be updated soon and following that so will "__**Acta non Verba,**__". The __**Millennium Jump**__ series sequel "__**The Last Wizard**__," has been resurrected but put on a temporary hiatus whilst I contemplate possible rewrites or a new chapter update. Thanks for reading folks and please enjoy my harder attempts at getting better. If anyone has any advice or anything they'd like to see in any of my works please feel free to state it in a review or a PM and I'll respond as best I can. Rest assured that even if I do not personally respond to your review, each and every single one of them is read at least once :) [I am a review whore…but I don't stop updating jus' cause no one reviews, they merely serve to make me happy in my pants. To me, writers who refuse to update unless they get "x" amount of reviews kind of annoys me, I'm happy to get just one or even just alert notices]. _

_Blah! I am rambly! Ramble, Ramble, Ramble._

_IGNORE MEEEEEEEE [to those of you who get the Marik YGOTAS reference…I love you and you deserve a mountain of sugary delights of your choosing]. _

_**Disclaimer**__:__ I do __**not **__own YuGiOh or Harry Potter_

_

* * *

_

**Chapter 1: The Hogwarts Reform**

"Um...Tonks, not that I'm not happy you came for me but I'm not supposed to be moved to Grimmauld until next week -what's going on?" asked Harry. He rubbed his eyes tiredly trying to get them used to the bright colors the bouncy metamorphagus kept changing her hair too. Aunt Petunia had gotten a bit freaked out by it and left them in the living room to talk but the younger wizard immediately felt unsettled, thinking something had to be wrong.

"Calm down 'Arry! Didn't you get the Hogwarts letter that got sent out yesterday? I told Mad-Eye to loosen up the safety owl mail block but the guy won't listen!" said Tonks, shaking her head tiredly.

"No I didn't get a letter, why, what's this about?" asked Harry tilting his head in curiosity and Tonks pulled out a crumpled parchment envelope sporting the red wax Hogwarts' seal and handed it to Harry.

"Remember your trial for using the patronus? It doesn't exactly matter too much now, they're making the rules looser on underage magic," said Tonks smiling a bit.

"Between the public and the Ministry, they all sort of suspect that Voldemort's back because Fudge is having a hard time covering up covert raids. The media's getting a bit lighter on you 'Arry, who knows, a public admittance might come out soon too," grinned Tonks...well it was sort-of good news.

Harry nodded with a rather feeble smile, but Tonks looked away awkwardly for some reason when he did, shrugging to himself he cracked the letter seal and squinted to read the auto-quill cursive letter.

"Mr. Potter,

_Within the following is a complete list of compulsory and optional items required for entering the sixth year, due to the generous donations from the Ministry of Magic's Board of Education, Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry reform on the school rules and minor changes to the system have been implemented. We at Hogwarts do this with the aims of boosting morale, grades and the school system outside of staff control, all sixth and seventh years are required to pick up the Hogwart's Senior's Handbook, obtainable at Flourish and Blotts with the senior's coupon note provided with this letter._

_**Required Compulsory Items:**_

_*** Sixth and seventh years are required to buy the new uniform [specified with year and house]**_

_*** The following textbooks for your chosen OWL classes; Mr Potter are as follows:**_

_Transfiguration__**:**__**Guide to Advanced Transfiguration by Cegrupe Ugyur**_

_**Theories of Transubstantial Transfiguration by Trillasell Verk**_

_Herbology__**:**__**One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore**_

_Defense Against the Dark Arts:__**Confronting the Faceless by Roxanne Lebarr**_

_**The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection**_**by Quentin Trimble**

_**Defensive Magical Theory**_**by Wilbert Slinkhard**

_Potions:__**Advanced Potion-Making**_**by Libatius Borage**

_**Magical Draughts and Potions**_**by Arsenius Jigger**

_Charms__**:**__**Quintessence: A Quest by Olivia Rockwaller**_

_**The Standard Book of Spells Grade 6 by Miranda Gowshawk**_

The following is a list of optional items (allowed):

_*** A cat, owl OR toad, any other pet brought must have the head of year and headmaster's permission to be on the grounds.**_

_*** Sixth and seventh years have permission to carry one melee weapon with assigned permission from head of year. The Board of Education has questioned this action so, sixth and seventh years must attend a safety sermon two weeks prior to the official school re-opening. Any listed student carrying a non-authorized weapon and did NOT attend the sermon will be stripped of the weapon, and face pending expulsion.**_

_*** Broomstick**_

The following is a list of BANNED items not allowed on school grounds, if students are caught with any of the following it warrants for some form of punishment [and possibly expulsion]_**:**_

_*** Any product from 'Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes'**_

_*** Unauthorized melee weapons**_

_***Unauthorized pets . . ."**_

Harry stopped reading the banned list as he feared it'd take forever, and quickly skipped over to the end of the letter, with Tonks carefully studying his facial reaction.

"_Sixth and Seventh year students are required to attend Hogwarts two weeks before the scheduled re-opening for important briefings and pre-classes authorized by the Ministry of Magic and Board of Education along with the melee weapon(s) safety sermon_. _If there is any reason why you cannot be present please sent an OWL response immediately and both school and Ministry officials will be in contact as soon as convenient, this is absolutely compulsory due to the state of current affairs_.

_With all this in mind, please enjoy the rest of your time at Hogwarts, contact your head of house about any queries that you have when you arrive._

_We at Hogwarts wish you the best in health and in learning,_

_Signed,_

_Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall_"

Harry had slight shock showing on his face after he read the letter and that showed Tonks that he'd clearly was able to read between the lines of what was truly happening. There was a huge sense of urgency felt by the Ministry and the rest of the wizards still half-stuck in denial of Voldemort's return, but the situation was so dire it was encouraging student's to be able to protect each other and themselves with the additional melee-rules.

"It's that bad?" said Harry softly, nibbling his lower lip in worry, and Tonks nodded grimly.

"Everyone's making back-up plans should the worst happen, and to be honest thank Merlin they timed it right, any later and the public would be sitting ducks," sighed Tonks.

"Grab your wand 'Arry, I'm here to take ya shopping for all the new stuff you'll have to get," added the metamorphagus with a slightly happier tone at the idea of going out shopping.

"Just you? Uh...no offense, I mean, I know you could protect me all by yourself but doesn't Mad-Eye usually bring several other Order members whenever I get moved?" asked Harry somewhat suspicious, feeling the Order may be trying to hide things again. Tonks held her hands up with a nervous look.

"Well it took a lot of convincing 'Arry, but I managed to get 'em to let me take you shopping on the condition that they er...stalk us 'secretly'," said Tonks sheepishly.

Harry sighed tiredly, there was always a catch.

* * *

When Harry and Tonks walked the cobbled streets of Diagon Alley, both of them could feel a distinct lack of cheer -something more suited to Knockturn that hung in the air. The previous atmosphere of happy shopping wizards and first years shopping for their new magical school had completely left the air, now it was grim and even the voices of people naturally speaking and bustling around was quieter then he remembered.

They went into Gringotts and even the lines were shorter, the goblins seemed grumpier [if that was even possible by goblin standards] and all in all despite it being Harry's first trip out all summer he wished it would end.

When Harry was having his uniform tailored and brought at Madame Malkins' he didn't expect it to be quite what it was. He was so shocked he felt as though he were attending a muggle private school for a minute.

Tonks blushed and said he looked stunning, but Harry put it down to polite exaggeration on her part, and simply gazed at his reflection in awe at the suit. The whole thing was one hundred percent white, the slack-trousers and the blazer was. It was a drastic change from the traditional mess of flowing black robes that he was accustomed to, and when he questioned the fact it looked a bit muggle, Malkin gave him the well-practiced answer of muggle-suits being the invention of a squib. Not entirely muggle, which must be what she told the picky purebloods to get them to wear the necessary uniform.

Two small crests diagonal from each other were squeezed down on the blazer's single upper-right breast pocket, one was the Gryffindor house crest and the other was the general Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry crest. The lions on the Gryffindor house crest were even animated to blink, claw and mouthing roars whilst their sewn bodies remained in the same general place. Tonks whistled impressively.

" 'Cor, Dumbledore's really been forking out for this gear," she said, poking at the blazer.

"Ah! Let me just fetch the formal cloak set that's part of it," said Madam Malkin, rushing past Tonks through the back curtain to fetch the last in stock.

"Does it look good? It IS all white, in theory I thought something like this would look a tad dodgy," said Harry honestly, Tonks flashed an evil grin and strode up to him and ruffled his messy hair.

"It looks good, too bad the guy wearing it is a total scruff. There's no getting out of it Harry Potter, I'm taking you to a salon," said Tonks who played blissfully unaware at the look of sheer horror on Harry's face at the notion of it.

"A salon? But those are sort of...girly," he said meekly.

"Well your hair is an unsolvable mess by muggle means, so a magical salon trip is in order. Oh don't gimmie that puppy look 'Arry...fine! How about after we get you a new set of glasses to tie up the look and we'll go somewhere you want?" said Tonks diplomatically which seemed to placate Harry. At that moment Madame Malkin came rushing out with two long white silken cloths draped over her arms.

She waved her wand and had them float before Harry, both side by side looking almost identicle with the only difference of texture [slightly], upon inspection Harry could see they were cloaks.

"Now, there's the cheaper option of Reladon and Reladon Lite material which only comes with dirt removal and dirt repulsion charm OR this much more pricey -but worth it- double layer robe," Madame Malkin then launched into an excited speech about it claiming it was a breakthrough in garment technology.

"The second layer is very light chiffon, the first outer-layer that everyone see's is a mesh of charmeuse and Bulvian spider-silk, tough but light, very durable. This version of formal robe comes with a weather-temperature charm, it detects if the wearer is too hot and automatically cools without cooling charm and vice versa when it's hot out as it also detects the temperature of it's surroundings. The dirt repulsion and expulsion charms are a lot stronger-" rambled Malkin until Tonks butted in for the rather overwhelmed boy.

"He'll take the fancy one," grinned Tonks, Madam Malkin burst into a huge grin and put the cloak around Harry which held itself to his uniform by a ruby red circular broach-clasp on the symmetrically opposite side of the breast pocket.

"The broach can be brought in a couple of colours, but this is a matching set with the Gryffindor tie," smiled the shop owner, Harry peered at the pretty broach-clasp once more and saw not only was it ruby red but had a "H" inscribed in a golden colour [H for Hogwarts].

"Ooooh, do all the uniforms have the gold lining?" asked Tonks, noticing a golden thin strip at the edge and stretched to the entire circumference of the cloak to the clasp. It looked downright regal! Tonks had to rub her eyes a few times and wonder if Dumbledore was a nutter with a penchanance for being eccentric or a genius with a love for eccentricity and again wondered just how much funding Hogwarts was getting.

"Just the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff robes, the Slytherin and Ravenclaws are green and blue as are the matching clasp sets to go with the ties which haven't changed," said Malkin who took that moment to sell Harry a newer, lighter, silkier polo shirt to go under his uniform blazer and fixed up his red and gold Gryffindor tie.

"Classy, you'd outshine Beauxbatons," said Tonks sweetly, it came to an expensive total of a hundred galleons [normal people probably would have only had to pay 80 but Tonks insisted that Harry go 'fancy' with it].

"What about the other years?" asked Harry suddenly.

"The first year robes stay the same and change, the second years get grey robes and so on, they get lighter and become more suit-like until sixth year where it's solid white and you end up with the end result. The uniforms the same for sixth years as it is for seventh years, except seventh years need to come for a refit," said Malkin as Tonks was grabbing Harry out of the store.

"Now...salon time! Come on! We agreed!" yelled Tonks, grabbing him by the ear and taking him to Diagon Alley's more cosmetic side.

* * *

"Sweet merciful Merlin boy! Did someone throw a beasty-charm in your hair or is it naturally this monstrous?" shrieked the hairdresser, who shook her head at the broken comb bristles that scattered the floor and was picking them out of Harry's mess of hair.

"Er...I think I inherited it off my dad," said Harry blushing sheepishly.

"Right. I hope your dad was a dragon tamer," snapped the hairdresser "-and this is going to cost five hundred galleons for a permanent fix,"

"No problem, money-bags here can spend it!" butted in Tonks again who seemed to be doing more of it frequently -with Harry's best interests at heart of course.

Hours of burning hot charmed iron combs and unfortunate scalp burns and noxious hair potion chemicals later, Harry coughed and opened his watering eyes only to gasp at the end result. The hairdresser collapsed into the empty chair beside the next customer chair looking absolutely drained. Her only comfort was the bag of gold galleons she was paid that she toyed with the coins between her fingers.

"It's permanently straight, if you ever want to curl it you'll have to inquire at another magical salon," apparently the lady didn't care that he was Harry Potter, the shock wore off an hour into attempting to fix Harry's black bird nest of hair.

"Do you like it Mr. Potter?" she asked with exhaust in her voice.

Harry stared, some curls framed his face and came in at his cheeks, evidently one or two bits even refused to listen to magic, the rest was poker straight and now reached at his shoulders. Harry thought it was sickeningly feminine until he was told androgynous features were immensely attractive and that his hair suited him beautifully.

Tonks then grabbed him by the arm and headed for the glasses store.

"Ohhh no! No more of you making me look like a girl!" said Harry, unaware he was unconsciously pouting.

"We're getting me some _manly _glasses," insisted Harry with a grumble.

* * *

After forty minutes of an optometrist at the glasses store poking at him and running proper tests he was offered a corrective spell, which made it no longer necessary to wear glasses but Harry feared looking like an absolute feminine twat without them.

He and Tonks came to an agreement, he had his eyes corrected for a fee, and brought an expensive pair of "manly" rectangular glasses which were charmed merely to enhance his now "naturally fine" vision. They let him detect heat movements through solid objects like a blurry heat-vision sensor which Mad-Eye would probably praise him for buying as a 'smart investment', anything to help him keep CONSTANT VIGELLANCE. It had a durability charm and anti-rain water charm with a few more fitted in to stop them getting easily knocked off his face like they would during Quidditch.

"Hm...Tonks...would wearing these glasses to spot the snitch be considered cheating?" asked Harry quietly and slyly.

"Maaaaybe... if someone found out," snickered Tonks with a secretive smirk on her face. The glasses were small but firm and rectangular which brought together the manlier cheekbones and balance out the rather feminine hair, putting Tonks and Harry at a comfortable ease with his appearance.

"I just remembered! The books, we need to get 'em!" and with that Harry was rushed to Flourish & Blotts and was urgently buying the remaining stock of sixth year books from the shelves having barely enough time to acknowledge the stares.

"Er...Tonks I just remembered...I'm still in my uniform but it's the holidays," said Harry, feeling like a bit of a tit.

"Don't worry 'Arry, all the senior years have been flashing it off early, the uniform isn't the reason you're getting stared at," she winked but poor oblivious Harry didn't 'get' it so Tonks didn't bother elaborating any further.

"Is that all of 'em 'Arry?" said Tonks suddenly when Harry was up to his neck in thick tomes.

"Yea-oh wait no, I need that Senior's handbook, could you er...take all this to the counter while I find the note for it?" it was not only a coupon that came with the Hogwarts letter for the handbook but also a permission slip of sorts as only older year students were allowed to be issued the books.

After a while of digging in the soft pockets of his new garments he found it and was given a small pocket sized book. It had the simple "H" letter with the Hogwarts emblem and it was as thick as Hogwarts: A History.

"Not to toot the faculties 'orn Harry but you REALLY have to read that. They've set everything up funny with their new fundin'," said Tonks, explaining to the slightly-confused wizard.

"'Arry, you know as well as I do what panic and war does to people right?" said Tonks softly but very, very seriously. The tone made Harry's ears perk up and face turn solemn as his mind flashed briefly through the horrors and trials he'd seen and been through in his short time on Earth.

"Yes..." he said, raising a brow wondering where Tonks was going with this.

"Well, lets say the staff were all busy and on the front lines, that'd leave the students right? Imagine it, in panic people kill each other to avoid being killed and get reduced to being downright...monstery," said Tonks, losing her eloquence with a grimace.

"Right," pressed Harry, urging her to carry on.

"So, that'd leave the older students in charge of the younger students. The staff is getting taxed so much by how the Wizengamot court is messing the public around along with the Ministry, they're taking out all the pre-emptive measures they wished they had taken in the first war. They know even though they haven't admitted it publically yet. That's why the media's being so slow and antsy and why the public is more scared. The senior students of every magical school are being taught new things added to the curriculum for survival. That handbook is actually summat the Ministry thought up," said Tonks.

"It's advised that you live and breathe the entire contents of that book. I've seen it too, it's got some pretty sound advice on conduct and whatnot. I know it seems very extra and even silly, maybe even 'going unnecessarily far' with it. But it's important that the senior years gain respect and authority and know what to do with it in the emergencies, hence that huge bloody book on conduct and boring stuff," finished Tonks, patting Harry on the head lightly.

"Remus told me you made head boy, that means there's a ton more responsibility on you out of all the older years," said Tonks sympathetically, and poor Harry looked overwhelmed again.

"Y-yeah, I dunno why I said yeah to being head boy but...I got to be an example among examples now don't I?" said Harry deadpan. The seniors had to lead an example to the younger students and he had to be the prime example among seniors and give them something to strive for.

How fucking fun, thought Harry sarcastically, pinning the head-boy badge in the diagonal space on the breast pocket between the two respective crests.

"Greaaaaat," he grumbled "-bloody great. Anymore bombshells?"

Tonks winced and bit her lip.

"Just one,"

"...what dare I ask?"

"Transfer students,"

"Uhm...would shopping for that weapon thing you need cheer you up?" suggested Tonks suddenly, to which Harry's eyes perked up with curiosity hitting the roof.

"Now you're talking!" he grinned.

* * *

It was a little shop off the corner of Diagon in that delicate spacing between the more respected alley and darker area of Knockturn, cobwebs gathered around the silver anti-werewolf blades on the display case and a rather dated weapons selling license on the window. The shop itself was amazingly small, Harry thought it'd be like Olivander's wand shop, small out the outside but charmed big on the inside however the weapons store was just as small as it looked. On the walls were ornamental katana swords and untouched twin tiger blades. Harry coughed lightly when disturbing some of the dust on the glass of the dagger display case. Tonks grimaced and patted Harry's back as he stopped coughing.

"Excuse me? Are you open?" Tonks asked, seeing nobody, until a small man emerged from the back of the store with a little broom, sweeping the bodies of dead spiders out.

"Yes, yes," hacked the old man, putting the broom in the corner.

"How can I help you?" asked the man, wiping a clothe over the sheathes of a jade dagger, whilst the shop was rather run down, the weapons were well looked after.

"Ah wait, you're a Hogwart's senior aren't you?" his nose twitched as he eyed Harry's uniform "-just give me your senior letter that was issued and I'll be able to sell you a weapon with a student discount,"

After doing so, the man showed Harry a display of daggers and athame which had been quite interesting, some of the athame had even vanquished and swallowed the power of demonic pests. He was very tempted to get one, he did own the sword of Gryffindor and could summon it in theory but was very touch-and-go and very rarely could he summon it except in dire situations.

Tonks got bored after Harry went through half the weapons in the first forty or so minutes and opted to 'rest her eyes' as she sat in a dusty customer chair.

"We have flame swords, throwing knives and retractable vaulting spears. If you have a nose for history perhaps a spell piercing archery set is more suited to your tastes?" said the shop owner, leading Harry into the back.

Harry grimaced and imagined his bow and arrow aim would be horrible and opted to leave archery to the Elves of Old.

"We have medieval weaponry here too, albeit not a lot since it sells quite quickly," he said, indicating to a locked glass case at the far left of the back room. Harry gaped at the flanged mace, temporarily shrunken lance, axes and different types of bow.

"Um…I think I'll just go with an athame," said Harry sweat-dropping.

The man smiled, having realized he probably overwhelmed the boy somewhat while attempting to dazzle him with the weapons display.

"Would you like to see a selection of silver athame? With the rumour of Hogwarts appointing a werewolf in the past as a teacher, perhaps it would be wise?" it was a marketing move but it still annoyed Harry nonetheless that Remus was being insulted. There was no malice in the man's tone though so Harry didn't press it, though the silver athame did seem like a wise choice with the rumour that Fenrir Greyback now haunted the Forbidden Forest despite best attempts to flush him out.

Harry wondered why it was so hard for him to pick a stupid weapon already, but then wondered if perhaps the weapon chose the wizard the way wands did. He decided to go toward the weapon he was naturally drawn to despite his mind thinking otherwise since it was obvious he wouldn't come to a conclusion mentally.

The man watched Harry gravitate toward the silver and golden blades, they were quite expensive and the shop owner looked giddy at the prospect of one of them getting sold. Even with the student discount they were really expensive meaning more money for his somewhat quiet shop.

"Ah I see you have quite a good eye, this is an Egyptian blade turned in by one of the curse breaker's a month or so back. Let me just unlock the case so you can have a good look," he unlocked the case and withdrew the golden sheathed blade. The sheathe itself was quite gorgeous and was finely decorated with hieroglyphic inscriptions engraved upon it. Slowly Harry withdrew the blade out which to his surprise, wasn't entirely gold itself. The handle hilt was solid gold and shaped with the ancient Egyptian Goddess of justice, Ma'at with wings spread open.

The man's eyes widened when Harry's fingers delicately ran across the blade's surface, surprised that he could do it without being hurt.

"I've had it brought back so many times I would have spliced the price down if you didn't have the student discount., it seems to burn all the wizards and witches it doesn't like," admitted the man.

"-and you choose to tell me this_ after_ I pick it up?" Harry raised a brow but then sighed and brushed it off.

"You said its silver? It looks pretty gold to me," said Harry dumbly and the man's eyes lit up as he delved into the athame's history.

"The hilt is gold yes but the blade itself as you can see is made of silver, according to the curse breaker who pawned it off, it was used to expel dark entities and cast protection rituals back in ancient Egypt. I suppose it'd make sense, they believed gold was the skin of their Gods and silver was their bones. I believe it was referred too as 'white metal' and its value between dynasties sort of went up and down," shrugged the man.

Harry nodded and put the athame back in it's sheathe and paid five hundred galleons out for it which left the man somewhat giddy and trying to push more weaponry on him until Harry woke up Tonks and they swiftly left. The only bonus thing he picked for it was a weapon's plain belt to go nicely with the uniform and openly store the rather pretty sheathed athame at his waist.

"An athame? Cool, I always sorta thought you were the sword type though 'Arry," said Tonks casually as they walked to the apparition point.

"So did I, but I was drawn to it and I thought it was like choosing a wand," admitted Harry, remembering 'the wand chooses the wizard' rule of thumb.

"Athame can be used as wand substitutes but they aren't usually used that way 'cause they usually produce a weaker result. It'll be dead useful though 'Arry, I mean back when I went in school we used them for potions that needed be stirred by the blade of an athame, I dunno if they still teach that but...yeah," shrugged Tonks, to which Harry pulled a face wondering if Snape would suddenly try that on them and find a reason to confiscate his athame anyway.

"Right well, don't go poking eyes out with that thing," said Tonks as they apparated back to the Dursley household.

"The Order will be picking you up a week from now and taking you to HQ," said Tonks, and with that, she left her unofficial-cousin to his devices back in the smallest bedroom of Number 4 Privet Drive.

* * *

_xxEnd Chapterxx_

_Okay that was a fairly dry start, I know, believe me, it's 4882 words of non-action other then Harry awesoming his gear up but give it a chance. I guarantee you the next chapter will have a quicker pacing and more plot movement. It picks up at chapter 2 I swear. _


	2. The Head Boy

**Senior Year**

_YGOxHP Yaoi meaning SLASH, M to cover my ass for the future violence, disturbing, sensitive topics touched here and if and when I choose to throw in LEMON. Undetermined permanent pairings, adult situations. A. U. OOC Post OotP. Bisexual!Harry in most of my stories because…I feel evil…and it to be more likely then a gay!Harry as his –albeit poor- romantic history with females is still there. _

_R&R_

_**Disclaimer**__:__ I do __**not **__own YuGiOh or Harry Potter_

_

* * *

_

**Chapter 2**

Upon arriving at Grimmauld he was met with an air of sober silence. The screaming portrait of the late Walburga Black had been covered by a curtain with a silencing charm and left untouched and as Harry dragged his trunk up the multitude of steps felt a bizarre déjà vu as he remembered that the room he was staying in belonged to Sirius.

Who was now dead of course.

It still stung quite a bit and the air of staying in a dead man's room left him feeling uncomfortably cold and somewhat awkward.

Slinging his trunk onto the bed, he sat down and glanced around at the Black family belongings hanging off the walls and couldn't help but wonder about Sirius. He tried blocking it out and getting over it as he was not the type of person to cage his emotions up or be repressed, he was Harry Potter and was therefore expected to pass each milestone with ease and fit the mould of altruistic hero. Whilst he was fine with slotting into this persona it didn't erase the fact he was human and needed the mourning process. Too bad he himself did not acknowledge this fact, for someone like him it's much easier to ignore the hurting and carry on. That's just what hero's do, so that's just what he did.

At lunch Harry saw Miss Weasley cooking enough for a banquet and he was immediately eclipsed by two Weasley twins.

"I need….air," choked out Harry as the two let go and ruffled his hair.

"We missed our little triplet!" said Fred with a grin.

"-yeah and we couldn't even send you any of our pranking kit prototypes," pouted George.

"I suppose you won't have that much need for them though," chirped Fred "-since you made head boy now,"

"Yeah, just don't become a pompous git like our Percy," said George wryly.

"Never," smirked Harry.

"We did get you a little something-something though, we figured that exploding snap gets boring eventually," added George. Harry tilted his head curiously as Fred grabbed something from his pocket and George grabbed something from his. They were shrunken boxes which enlarged slightly as they took them out of their pockets and handed them to him.

"What is this?" asked Harry quietly, reading the box which was labelled "Duel Monsters Starter Kit 1" and "Duel Monsters Starter Kit 2".

"We thought you'd recognize it, it's muggle but it's actually really, really cool," grinned Fred. Recognition dawned on Harry's features, it was the game Dudley was obsessed with! The one with monsters and tournaments that came on TV, too bad Dudley kept losing as his rather one track mode of thinking always left him rather unable to strategize and face real tough opponents properly.

"I do sort of recognize it now…yeah, and thanks you two," Harry smiled at the Weasley twins who ruffled his hair in turn but then sighed in mock-despair when it returned to it's original state. It wasn't the same as the bird's nest they were so familiar with, and Fred made an overdramatic display of "mourning" the death of Harry's hair while George still attempted to mess it up and failed.

"Okay, okay! My hair isn't ruffle-y anymore!" laughed Harry, batting George's hand away. Suddenly they heard the sound of people running in from the other room and Harry was immediately attacked with more hugs.

"Ron! 'Mione!" he grinned as the two let him go.

"We missed you so much Harry and the Order wouldn't send our letters through!" exclaimed Hermione "-and congratulations on making Head Boy,"

"Yeah and guess what? 'Mione made Head Girl," half-sulked Ron though he was still happy for Harry.

"There is one downside though mate," grinned Ron suddenly and then he leaned in somewhat dramatically.

"You have to share the prefect cart with Malfoy,"

* * *

When they went to Hogwarts early for their safety sermon, they was a mix of happiness of friends seeing each other and grumpiness at having to be at school two weeks earlier then everyone else. The senior years, sixth and seventh were mingling more then normal as they were all taking in the empty carriages when they arrived off the fairly barren early Hogwarts Express. When they arrived at the castle-school they were surprised to see the staff aside from Dumbledore standing in front of the grand doorway into the castle.

McGonagall began to yell an announcement out as the other Head of Houses sorted out their respective factions into their proper grouping and then ordered them into lines.

"Prefects! To the front!" said McGonagall, a small line of students came out from the different houses and stood beside the staff. Harry and Hermione stood together whilst Harry had a quick scan over the other prefects. Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott came from Hufflepuff, Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil came from Ravenclaw, so far so good….

Sure enough, Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson emerged from Slytherin and joined the line and McGonagall called forward the Head Boy and Head Girl so everyone was clear on who it was.

"Harry Potter and Hermione Granger are the Head Boy and Girl with the authority to issue detentions if they catch you breaking the rules including those included in the Senior Handbook. They also have permission to dock points, as do the other prefects,"

"Wait wait, THAT'S Harry?" was the consensus of the rippling whispers, along with note of how he changed his hair and glasses slightly and how he was so much cuter now.

"Quiet down! Now, you're also called here for the safety sermon which is being held within the Great Hall by Ministry officials so please keep in mind the strictly enforced code of conduct. You wouldn't want your house points to be in the negatives before school officially starts for everyone," said Flitwick, stepping in for McGonagall who walked down inspecting the uniform briefly.

There were murmured compliments to one another as students fiddled with the new pearl white uniforms feeling quite strange to be out of their messy black robes. It felt as if they were starting Hogwarts all over again. The students nervously walked into Hogwarts and thankfully nothing inside had changed and nothing in the Great Hall had either except the tables were absolutely barren and lacked chairs.

"Students, this is Miss Amelia Bones from the Ministry of Magic here to deliver a safety sermon following the authorization of melee weapons here at Hogwarts," said Snape rather sourly, who privately thought they should have followed the example of Durmstrang a long time ago and already implement this.

The hour passed with Ms Bones telling the students of legal repercussions of their weapons and if someone got seriously hurt and chose to press it. They were going to do a mass presentation of their weapons to the other and the Head of Houses were going to make note of the weapons deemed inappropriate [ex: a medieval mace] and present them to Dumbledore who takes authorization from the student. Any student carrying an unauthorized weapon that harms another not only faces penalties at school but gets punished to the full extent of the law. Those hurt with authorized weapons verbally consent to it not going to court, as every authorized student is listed with their weapon and there were no secret. Everyone was aware of the risks of challenging other students should their be an accident –this was the same policy Durmstrang had.

On the dorm entry for every house after the safety sermon students read out their planner for the next two weeks which was the same for everybody so nobody was handed an individual planner, the house all attended the same classes with other houses at different times. This was when they learned from their Head of Houses that the next two weeks was nothing but a drill testing out how they coped with senior protocol and learned how to fight in emergencies so they could take charge in times of stress should the staff be incapacitated.

There was an immediate buzz between the students of other houses on who they so desperately wanted to fight in their practice classes, and surely enough, Malfoy was smirking at Harry as they passed in the corridor.

"I'll see you in sparring class," he said, with a minimal of snarky remarks which had gotten increasingly subtle as even he seemed to be taking protocol to heart [which felt a bit weird for everyone].

It was hard to stay cool, calm, collected and level headed ALL of the time and it was even harder not to lose one's temper and lash out but it was now required of the older years who all of a sudden felt more adult then child. The world would be at war, and the elder years of Hogwarts were feeling it.

The Slytherins faced off against the Gryffindors for their first lesson which was mainly going over the rules of duelling and the other half was 'friendly' fighting so the students got familiar with melee weapons. The classes were all defensive fighting drills of some sort split into two types, spell duelling and physical defence.

"You scared Potter?" said Malfoy just as they did back in Gildery Lockheart's duelling classes. To Malfoy's surprise, Harry just chuckled softly -finding it a bit silly.

"You wish," he smiled [which infuriated Malfoy].

"On the count of three," said Snape, raising his wand to signify the two could walk away from their head to head stance. Taking paces forwards the two stopped and turned around sharply, both of them totally ignoring the fact Snape hadn't finished the countdown.

"Expelliaramus!" yelled Harry, shooting the disarming charm like a shot of blue lightning from his wand which Malfoy snorted at put a weak shield up against it that disintegrated after it absorbed the shot.

"Typical. Sectumsempra!" snarled Malfoy shooting the violent slashing hex to which Harry's eyes widened and without even thinking about it mid Malfoy's shout he put up a quick shield of his own.

"Protego!" a bright red shield came up briefly and protected Harry, thinking fast he aimed a quick shot for Malfoy's feet.

"Confringo!" it was a dangerous blasting curse that makes whatever comes into contact with it burst into flames, in this case it was the space of ground inches from Malfoy's feet which made him shriek and fall backwards quickly to narrowly avoid the flames as they dissipated.

In quick succession Harry raised his wand and summoned Malfoy's which had rolled to the floor into his hand. While Malfoy was slowly getting up Harry heard cheering from the Gryffindors which was along the lines of 'Finish him off!' and he raised a brow at Snape who was glaring at him but wasn't going to stop the fight until their was an achieved victor.

"Mobilicorpus!" Harry had aimed it at Malfoy himself and rose him into the air slightly.

"Is this duel over Malfoy?" but the blond hadn't the humbleness to respond until he was harshly thrown into the wall and let down.

"Yes," he hissed from the floor in pain and accepted his wand back from Harry, practically yanking it from him and hastily wiping it on his robe as if it now had half-blood germs.

"This is not over though Potter," he growled, to which Harry responded simply.

"I know,"

* * *

Some students coped with physical defence classes quite well and others didn't such as Neville Longbottom, but Harry and Malfoy were still neck and neck even when not fighting with wands or weaponry.

The weapons classes were quite scattered though almost everyone had some type of blade, so they were taught the rudimentary basics.

On a less serious note on the last day of their emergency training, they finally practiced the new induction for welcoming the fresh batch of first years and returning students. Harry and Hermione both suspected that there were other reasons they were changing things around, so they asked McGonagall when they separated themselves from the others for a brief moment.

"Mr. Potter, Ms Granger, whilst it isn't really your business the school is under intense inspection to see if the money we're receiving is spent wisely. The Ministry is watching us carefully and has the power to pull the plug on our funding and shut down the school if they see fit, they're looking for anyway to fill their treasury incase…" McGonagall stopped, but then sighed realizing she couldn't really hide it from those two particular students who always believed Voldemort was back from the start.

"War is publically declared,"

"I get it! Though it's sort of stupid for the Minister to even think of cutting back on education though," said Hermione somewhat vehemently, to which McGonagall merely nodded and let Hermione return back to the line of Gryffindors.

"You look…really pretty in the uniform 'Mione," said Ron shyly, feeling awkward.

"Thank you Ronald," said Hermione with a light blush as they stood in line and listened to Snape talking. It seemed that appearance was becoming one of the sole bones keeping the school funded.

" 'Cor did you see Harry though? He's a right knockout," sighed one of the girls dreamily.

Harry turned a deaf ear to it and turned to McGonagall who wanted a private word.

"As Head Boy you have a lot of responsibilities to new students," began McGonagall who smiled tightly as Harry nodded along.

"I don't mean just the first years either, I'm not sure whether you've been informed or not but we're having rather late transfer students attending when school begins," said McGonagall.

"The Headmaster thought it fit that you be the one to give them an introductory tour and be their…guide so to speak. You'll be looking after a lot of first years too, can you handle that Mr. Potter?," said McGonagall.

"I can handle it but uh…what year are they going in?" asked Harry curiously.

"Fifth, they're only one year behind you but the headmaster has arranged it so their classes are close to yours so you can show them around easier," said McGonagall.

"You'll be picking them up from the platform 9/3 quarters tomorrow, you can get there early if you go to the headmaster's office in the morning. He'll provide you with a method of transport to get to the platform before they arrive. It is not necessary for you to stay for the rest of the welcoming rehearsal as you will be escorting," said McGonagall, leaving Harry a bit in the lurch.

"Well then, I'll just be going," mumbled Harry, happy to leave the stares that were occasionally directed his way from the 'fan club'.

* * *

Harry was pleasantly surprised to see Dumbledore's office had been completely redone after his last magical rage fit had destroyed the entire room. Fawkes even seemed delighted to see him, which seemed to surprise Harry that the phoenix remembered him.

"Harry my boy –lemon drop?" offered Dumbledore with a leisurely smile as he propped one into his mouth.

"No thanks," Harry turned sheepish "I see you got your office fixed up,"

"Yes, yes my boy and it was no trouble, I was due for a clean out," said Dumbledore waving his hand airily.

"You'll be picking up the transfer students," he said "-but to get to platform 9/3 quarters in time you'll need Fawkes to take you there, good luck," smiled the elderly wizard as Fawkes flew onto Harry's shoulder and they disappeared in a flash of bright fire.

* * *

Harry awkwardly stuck out in bright white and nobody else had seen the new uniform so he got a few curious stares. He stared out at the Hogwart's Express pulling up and excited first years pointing and staring, and a few of those directed at him.

He waited near the platform barrier, waiting for some strange new faces. He had no idea what they looked like so all he had to go on was to look for some lost looking older kids who he hadn't seen before.

While he waited he felt a bit silly and a bit self conscious especially when first years came up to him shyly.

"Are you a wizard teacher?" asked a young boy, voice unbroken and very excited looking.

"No, but I am a wizard," smiled Harry, it was nice to feel pride when he said it.

"I go to Hogwarts too but I'm a sixth year, I'm just wearing the new senior uniform," shrugged Harry.

"Oh cool! So how do they sort us? What's your name? Oh and what's that badge?" the kid started firing questions until Harry put up his hands in mock surrender.

"I'm Harry Potter and this badge is just to say I'm prefect Head Boy," he laughed nervously as the kid's jaw dropped at his name, having heard the legend.

"As for the sorting, well…I can't tell you because part of the fun is not knowing. Tradition n' all," said Harry, gently moving the kid in the direction of the closest open train door.

"You should get going to grab a seat close to your mates before it fills up," and with that, Harry turned back to the barrier and saw three older teens he hadn't seen before making their way to him.

Harry stared for a moment and wondered if they were the transfers, they probably were. He took in their appearance for a moment, one of them was a pale skinned albino, another looked possibly middle eastern and finally there was the incredibly short fellow with the spiky tri-coloured hair.

"Are you uh...Harry Potter?" asked the short one.

"Yeah, I take it you guys are the new transfer students?" he asked.

"Yep we are, we were just told to look for a guy dressed in all white," said the short one sheepishly.

"Pass your stuff and I'll load it on the train, go and find the compartment at the far back with the red door and get comfy," he had directed them to the prefect's compartment, which would be empty since all the prefects were already at school.

They gave him thankful and somewhat relieved looks and handed him their luggage which he seemed to lift quite easily, insisting that it was no trouble.

They found the empty compartment and sat together and waited for a moment until Harry came in eventually looking a tad rushed off of his feet. It turned out being Head Boy had responsibilities that he couldn't ignore.

"Sorry about that!" he came in and then sat alone facing the three transfer students who sat together in the prefect cart.

"It's the first years, they're a bit chaotic to deal with and there are no other authority figures on the train," said Harry, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"It's okay, thanks for meeting up with us. It's weird starting late with all the little kids looking at us," said the blond one, which reminded Harry that he didn't even know the names of who he was picking up.

"So, who're you guys?" he had to ask, and suddenly the shortest one felt a tad rude and spoke up.

"I'm Yugi Mutou," they shook hands along with trading cheesy smiles to boot.

"Marik Ishtar," they also shook but something rang as rather cold from the guy which made Harry want to frown for a moment.

"Ryou Bakura," said the albino, shaking Harry's hand [and to make a crucial moment awkward, there were sweaty palms to boot]. For a moment there was an awkward silence and nobody really knew what to say to slice it until Harry finally broke it.

"So…did Dumbledore sort you out with a house yet or are you going to be sorted at the ceremony with the first years?"

"They were going to give us a private sorting but the only house with spare fifth year dorms is Gryffindor, so they put us there," said Yugi, Harry's expression brightened considerably at this and suddenly it felt like he had a bit more control over the situation. He at least could help them integrate with the rest of the house this way, which made his job to look out for them considerably easier.

"That's great! It means you guys are with me and the others," grinned Harry and they looked quite relieved by this, so they'd know one other person at least.

"Everyone in Gryffindor is dead nice so you don't have to worry…well Seamus can be a jerk sometimes but that's about it really," said Harry as he thought it over for a moment,

"So what happens when we get there?" asked Marik.

"Well, everything's changed a bit this year but basically after we get off the train, the first years cross the pond and we take carriages with the other fifth years," explained Harry somewhat unsurely but hoped it didn't show.

"Then the senior years greet everybody in and we follow go to the Great Hall, and sit in on the first year sorting. It doesn't take as long as you'd think, then there's the start of term feast," the others didn't understand what Harry meant by the older students 'greeting everybody in', but Harry assured them that it was going to be really cool. They asked what the school was like and he answered as honestly as he could.

"This Snape guy sounds horrible," said Yugi after Harry briefly outlined them about the staff.

"He's good at his craft, but he's so biased to his house its ridiculous. I mean, I get why. A lot of the school isn't exactly nice toward Slytherin, so somebody has to be, but he goes above and beyond," said Harry sourly.

"Okay, officially not looking forward to Potions class now," said Marik dryly.

"Everything's going to be really…hectic 'cause of all the new changes and we won't be in any of the same classes because I'm not in the same year as you. They made it so your classes are close to mine though," said Harry, who frowned slightly as the train, went under the final tunnel; he realized they'd be there soon.

"You guys should change into uniform now; we'll be there soon," he murmured as he started staring vacantly out of the window, seeing the distant shadow of Hogwarts' tallest tower. He could see the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest which were close to the train tracks and scowled. Then he peered closer, nose bumping against the glass.

"That's weird," he mumbled to himself, fogging up the window slightly.

"Hm?" Yugi asked, diverting Harry's attention to them midst-change [which he wished he hadn't because eye contact was kind of awkward with a shirt pulled halfway over your head].

"There's a huge fence around the entire Forbidden Forest," said Harry somewhat surprised.

"The Forbidden Forest?" Yugi raised an eyebrow and looked out the window with Harry and saw a bright glistening fence that probably cost a lot of money to build and place.

"Yeah, it's where Hogwarts gets a fresh supply of potions materials for the entire school, but there's some really dangerous stuff there," said Harry, remembering when he had to serve a detention with Hagrid there to harvest ingredients back in first year and found the dead unicorn.

"Speaking from memory?" smirked Marik.

"Yes," replied Harry with a grimace. "There's no shortage of giant man eating spiders, feral vampires and human-hating centaurs,"

"That gate…if I didn't know better…looks silver," said Harry with a raised brow.

"-and this means what, exactly?" replied Marik, turning briefly as he pulled down the undershirt. He expected to hear some remark about the tattoos that took up the entirety of his back, but was surprised when Harry didn't say a damn thing. He didn't figure it was any of his business, it looked somewhat ethnic and he really didn't want to get into an awkward conversation about a culture he had no knowledge of. He was curious though, but opted not to show it.

"There was a rumour going around that Fenrir Greyback escaped from prison," explained Harry, looking very uncomfortable.

"He's a really, really dangerous werewolf. He doesn't just turn into one at the full moon either, apparently he let the 'wolf side' take over completely and then hid out in the Forbidden Forest to stop Ministry officials from trying to get him back," said Harry, looking uneasy.

"Okay, note to self, stay the hell away from that place," said Marik flatly.

Harry then yawned and looked away awkwardly when he caught a rather suspicious looking bruise on the albino boy's arm that had been there for quite a while. There was no shortage of little, little bruises and healing marks but it was enough to unsettle Harry somewhat.

Yugi could tell the werewolf thing must really be bothering the other boy, but didn't really know what to say so instead opted to change the subject a bit.

"I can't believe all of these things really exist," said Yugi in slight awe.

"Yep," all of a sudden the train came to a halt, making them flinch and jerk forward and suddenly cut the conversation.

Harry got up briskly and unlocked the prefect compartment and hopped off the train to the rather run down platform.

He held his hand out to little Yugi and helped them off the train, which was a tad unnecessary and with the way things were going, Marik wouldn't be surprised if kissing on the hand was next.

They were led to the carriages which were pulled by some of the creepier things Marik and Ryou had seen but they didn't comment about it.

"Wow, carriages? Great, where's the castle?" asked Marik sarcastically, to which Harry looked amused and pointed over his shoulder.

"Right over there, that's Hogwarts," and sure enough it was a castle, a huge one. Marik blinked owlishly having not quite expected Hogwarts to look like that, but after a moment, wondered why he was so damn surprised.

The carriage stopped and they got off in time to see the somewhat distant first years reach the other end of the pond and getting off the rickety wooden boats.

They were walking off in a line looking rather dazed, but the view was covered by a series of small, pink, blossoming trees that let pink petals drop from it in the breeze and coat the ground. Harry hadn't even noticed when the trees had actually come into bloom or if magic was responsible, he strongly suspected the latter. Walking between the new trees littered to frame an arch way they followed a line of first years.

Harry smiled a bit when he heard awed gasps coming from the transfer students behind him and from the first years in front. The students were walking in a line brought together by two lines of tall students dressed head to toe in white cloaks with their hoods up, standing either side to let the gaggle of awestruck first years pass through the middle.

The first years looked somewhat scared by the seniors who bowed their heads in respect and didn't move an inch as the blossom petals breezed by.

"Welcome," came the soft but unanimous murmur from the older years, Harry almost snorted and wondered if it would seem half as magical if they'd been their for the practice-rehearsal of the welcoming but didn't bring it up as it would spoil the moment for the transfer students who had yet to even blink.

At that cue, the grand oak doors of Hogwarts were opened by the two closest seniors and Minerva McGonagall was stood there and took charge of the glassy-eyed freshmen.

"First years this way, come with me," she said. The gasps and childlike wonder only increased as they were led inside on their way to the Great Hall for the sorting ceremony.

"You guys just follow me, the seniors come in last after they greet in the rest of the school," said Harry, running a hand through his hair as he tried to remember yesterday's practice drill.

Marik, Yugi and Ryou were somewhat wide-eyed as Harry led them down another, emptier corridor but their attention was diverted by moving and talking portraits and torches strapped to the stone walls that lit as they walked by.

"Hello Harry!" waved a medieval knight from a picture of the round table, except the others were catching a daytime nap on the table.

"Hey," he grinned back at the knight, trying to remember his name desperately [and took a mental note to talk to the portraits more].

"I haven't seen these faces before, and they look too old to be first years," said the knight.

"They're the transfer students," explained Harry, the three didn't say anything and continued to stare at the talking, moving portrait.

"Ah! Well! In that case, if you ever find yourself getting lost just ask one of us! Any portrait for that matter," said the knight warmly.

"We'll be sure to do that," muttered Yugi weakly, who was getting severely overwhelmed.

They followed Harry to a small door used primarily by the staff to get in and sit at the nearby staff table in the Great Hall without having to cross through the field of students.

When Harry opened the door they followed him in and gasped, almost stumbling into each other. The Great Hall was absolutely huge with a grandeur that was hard to put into words. Walking past the staff table to the empty Gryffindor seats, they saw the first years up in front all huddled together and whispering excitedly. The entire Great Hall was lit by tens of hundreds of enchanted candles that floated up and directed everyone's attention to the beautifully enchanted, tall ceiling.

"Is that…real?" said Ryou quietly, the entire ceiling was enchanted to show the night sky littered with stars.

"It's day time though," said Marik confusedly.

"It's not really an open ceiling, it's just enchanted that way to always show the night sky," explained Harry, who smiled slightly at the glassy eyed look of complete and utter awe. The Frog Choir [as conducted by the diminutive charms professor, Flitwick] began to sing in a tongue that the transfers couldn't recognize, but nonetheless sounded impressive as they simultaneously played a multitude of violins and other instruments.

"It's Latin," deadpanned Harry, when it became apparent from the transfer students' expressions that they had no idea what was going on.

"Come on, lets sit here," indicating to the end of the Gryffindor table close to the first years who were about to be sorted. Sitting nervously around Harry and feeling somewhat awkward being the first to be there as the other years filed in. Everyone's attention turned to the main doors of the Great Hall as the rest of the sixth and seventh year finally came in, marching in well practiced lines, pulling their hoods down and having their cloaks pushed back behind their shoulders and flowing out to show the pearl white uniform.

The magic of the Great Hall seemed to increase [If possible] as the rest of the school stared in curiosity, impressed, as they made their way down to the tables and sat close to one another whilst simultaneously flaunting their grace, similarly to Beauxbatons students.

McGonagall waded through the first years and stepped up to a conjured platform and placed a rather worn, practically ancient hat down on a wooden stool.

"So…how exactly do they get sorted?" Yugi asked.

"I'll let him explain," said Harry, pointing to the hat which ripped open a tear that looked suspiciously like a mouth of some sort and began to sing.

_"Oh you may not think I'm pretty,  
But don't judge on what you see,  
I'll eat myself if you can find  
A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep your bowlers black,  
Your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
And I can cap them all._

_There's nothing hidden in your head  
The Sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be._

__

You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry  
Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
if you've a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folks use any means  
To achieve their ends.

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap!  
You're in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"_

"…they try on a talking hat?" said Marik, blinking twice at the crumpled hat that sat perched on the stool until McGonagall called out for the first student to be sorted.

"Yep, it looks inside their head and judges what house they should be in," explained Harry.

They passed the time with quiet conversation and occasionally bothered Harry with curious questions until all of the first years were sorted and had taken their seats.

Dumbledore stood up at the end of the ceremony and made a welcoming announcement, turning the attention of the entire school solely to himself.

"Faces, young and old, I welcome you to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," most of the school seemed to be staring at his rather odd robes, the eccentric headmaster had taken to wearing a long black robe with moving stars all over it. He's what you'd call a genius that walks to delicate line of mildly insane, but don't be fooled into thinking he's senile, a wizard's greatest mistake is underestimating Albus Dumbledore.

"To our new students and our transfer students, I wish you the best of luck here at Hogwarts. Never fear approaching a senior, portrait or suit of armour should you get lost a few times. Our prefects and staff members are also here if you find yourself needing any help. I'm sure that with the lengthy sorting, you're all starving, so without further ado…" he raised his wand "-bon appetite".

With a quick swish of the wand, the empty tables were blinded by a brief glimmer of magic, spreading rich foods down the entire length of table. The first years stared and eventually dug in after the older years did without hesitation; the entire Great Hall was filled with excitement.

Ryou instantly wished he hadn't sat next to Harry, finding the awkward feeling making it hard to eat some of the rich foods in front of him despite how hungry he was.

Marik and Yugi didn't seem to notice as they were busy tucking into the food themselves. Some of the first years stopped as did Marik and Yugi to stare at what Ryou was looking at also.

A silver-white ghost had flown close to the table dressed head to toe in Elizabethan clothing, greeting the first years.

"Oh Harry, are these the transfer students?" asked the ghost.

"Yep, guys, this is Sir Nicholas but everyone calls him Nearly Headless Nick," said Harry, a first year heard him and loudly asked across the table.

"Nearly Headless? How can someone be Nearly Headless?"

"Oh go on Nick, show them why you're called _'Nearly Headless'_," smiled Harry. The ghost grinned back and him and tilted his head to the left and the first years including Yugi gasped as the ghosts' head hung only by a thin stretch of flesh attached to his neck.

"That's actually really cool," laughed Marik, whilst the muggleborn first years looked rather horrified.

"Well I best be off now, I have to get the Baron to keep Peeves away from picking on the first years," and with that, the ghost floated to the walls and went straight through them.

Harry lost his smile for a minute and turned to Ryou who wasn't eating, and gently nudged a plate of profiterole to him. It was coincidentally one of Ryou's favourites and despite lacking an appetite he started to eat it anyway, if only because of Harry's silent encouragement.

It was rather counter-productive though, considering he was the one causing the inner discomfort in the very pit of his stomach.

"Ryou, are you okay?" Harry asked.

"Um…yeah, I'm just a bit…overwhelmed, that's all," said Ryou quickly, digging into the profiterole with rather forced vigour as if he hadn't seen food in days.

Harry just put it down to Ryou perhaps being a bit socially awkward and decided to introduce a couple of the older students that were sat close by. A couple poked Yugi's hair and asked if he used magic to make it that way, while others merely gave their own name back and left them be.

True to his word, the Gryffindors were 'dead nice' and the transfer students seemed to ease up a bit. After the feast, the heads of house came down from the staff table and herded their faction to the entry way to their respective common rooms.

The Gryffindors were told the password and entered through the portrait of The Fat Lady and McGonagall handed out the timetables for tomorrow.

The rest of the day they had free to explore and attempt to map out the way to their classes, Harry offered to do so with Marik, Yugi and Ryou but the albino backed out awkwardly.

"I want to go to my dorm and unpack first," he said hurriedly, Yugi raised a brow at the fact Ryou was acting a bit off but didn't press it.

"Okay, well, your dorms are up the stairs on the third floor. Their should be an enchanted plaque with your name on it, all fifth years and up get singles so it might take a while to find yours up there," shrugged Harry.

Ryou nodded his thanks and was about to go to the staircase until he felt Harry's hand on his shoulder coupled with him leering over him slightly to take a peek at the timetable in his hands.

"Right. You have your first charms lesson first thing tomorrow. I have transfiguration about a corridor down from there, you guys all have the same timetable right?" to which Marik and Yugi nodded after a brief comparison.

"I'll wait for you guys here tomorrow morning and take you to breakfast and walk you down to your first lesson since it's on the way to mine. Breakfast starts at 7:30," said Harry, taking his hand off his shoulder and letting his hand hang at his side. Ryou nodded and quickly made his way to the staircase.

"Okay, see you guys later!" he felt like he couldn't have left faster and by the time he found his dormitory the feeling of butterflies in the bottom of his stomach still hadn't left. Originally he put it down to nervousness after discovering he was also a wizard, but to his mild horror it had centred from the guide that was showing them the ropes.

He took his belongings which had appeared on his bed and instead of unpacking, took a few moments to bury into the pillow and clasp his hands over his ears which sure enough –were burning with heat. Ryou decided nothing good would come of telling any of the others about his newfound insta-crush, and slowly pulled his trunk to his lap and slowly unpacked.

Cursing at himself in his head he let out a resigned, somewhat frustrated sigh.

"I suppose I have a crush on Harry Potter," he mumbled, feeling no better then the gaggling girls that spoke in not-so-subtle ways about Harry when he crossed them, he felt like one of many that probably liked him too. The chances were he was probably as straight as ruler too.

Sigh.

Now part of him was regretting not staying longer with the unbearably sweet senior, he started cursing inwardly at himself again for not sticking with Marik and Yugi while Harry toured them around Hogwarts.

Ryou decided that the conflicting feelings that came with being a teenager just plain _sucked_.


	3. The Poison

**Senior Year**

_YGOxHP Yaoi meaning SLASH, M to cover my ass for the future violence, disturbing, sensitive topics touched here and if and when I choose to throw in LEMON. Undetermined permanent pairings, adult situations. A. U. OOC Post OotP. Bisexual!Harry in most of my stories because…I feel evil…and it to be more likely then a gay!Harry as his –albeit poor- romantic history with females is still there. _

_R&R_

_**Disclaimer**__:__ I do __**not **__own YuGiOh or Harry Potter_

_

* * *

_

**Chapter 3**

Sure enough, the next morning Harry was downstairs with Ron and Hermione in the Gryffindor common room. Nervously, Ryou, Marik and Yugi made their way down the staircase and made their way over to the others.

The first years were incredibly antsy and everyone was bustling around in a rush to grab their timetables and go and grab breakfast.

Hermione gave them a briefing, [if you could call it that, it was pretty in-depth] overview of charms in general so they'd feel better about casting their first spell which would be more advanced then anything they knew seen as they just started in fifth year and had to catch up on the basics in their own time.

At breakfast, Ryou found himself gravitating to the seat by Harry again and having the same internal struggle with eating though it was slightly easier the second time around.

Marik had taken to the idea of being able to own a weapon on school grounds next year and the three had quite taken to Harry's athame that lay sheathed on his waist belt under the blazer uniform.

"Apparently it's vanquished evil spirits and such," shrugged Harry "-but so far the plan was just to use it for melee and occasionally potions,"

"Hey mate, why don't you try vanquishing Peeves with it?" said Ron after swallowing down a large lump of mash potato.

"I don't think he'd ever let me get close enough to try," snorted Harry, though the idea seemed interesting, he didn't actually know how you vanquished stuff with an athame. According to Hermione you just…stab the entity with it and it gets sucked into the blade for all time.

"So you guys get fighting classes?" asked Marik, mildly jealous.

"Yeah, sixth and seventh year get mandatory melee classes in some of the free periods," said Hermione.

When the breakfast table cleared they were led to the classes and wished good luck to them in their first charms lesson. Marik and Yugi nervously made their way into Flitwick's classroom as did Ryou after Harry flashed him once last little smile and wished him luck too and then went on his way to Transfiguration. Ryou smiled back nervously and rushed in, taking a seat near the corner.

Flitwick began to talk about the workings of a binding charm that conjured rope to be tied around an object or person. As interesting as it truly was, it was hard for him to concentrate but surprisingly, Marik and Yugi seemed to grasp the _Incarcerous _spell quite easily, but for him it was taking a while.

The diminutive professor walked over to Ryou's table and gently advised him.

"Focus all of your attention onto this my boy, the first spell is always the hardest to boot,"

Ryou nodded meekly and attempted to cast the spell with the encouragement of Flitwick, but to his horror, he had forgotten that his wand was aimed in the general direction of where the professor was standing and he hadn't expected it to work but it did.

A short zap of magic later and Flitwick was struggling with a series of ropes bound tightly around his small body.

Ryou's hand smacked over his mouth to smother the need to want to yelp in utter mortification. Some of the other fifth years were giggling out the side of their mouth and Ryou sank into his seat, getting redder and redder.

One of the Ravenclaw's they were in Charms with got up and casted a quick 'Diffindo' to cut the ropes and Flitwick merely laughed it off and didn't bother Ryou about it, he couldn't blame the boy –it was his first spell [a rather advanced one at that].

At the end of the lesson most of the others had forgotten or stopped caring about the little accident but Ryou still felt humiliated and his discomfort only increased when the others came from Transfiguration and met them in the corridor.

"How was your first charms lesson?" asked Hermione warmly.

"Good actually, well except for when Ryou here accidentally aimed his wand at the professor without realizing and bound him in rope," laughed Marik. Though they were all friends and it was naught but light teasing, it didn't stop Ryou's face from burning in embarrassment, wishing he hadn't said it in front of Harry and his other friends.

Ron snorted and laughed while Hermione poked at Harry to stop grinning, he wanted to laugh but out of slight pity he didn't.

"Its fine, everybody makes mistakes –oh stop laughing Ron. I still remember that misplaced 'Diffindo' that split straight down your pants last year," said Harry with a dark smirk.

Ron's ears turned redder then his hair and Hermione gave Harry a disproving look while the transfer students snickered at his expense. Ron gave Harry a mock-betrayed look and huffed, turning to Hermione for support whose disproving look melted into one of concealed mirth.

"You're both mean," muttered Ron, lightly kicking Harry's ankle petulantly "-especially you,"

After a quick pep talk the trio walked the transfers to their next lesson that seemed a bit more lifted and less apprehensive of the rest of their lessons. After dropping them off at Transfiguration, Ron turned to Harry and Hermione and bid his goodbyes. Their second period was a free one; however Hermione had taken Ancient Runes and had to head there next.

Ron for one was happy that he was never ever paired up with Harry in sparring classes, infact the entirety of Gryffindor was. He'd sent so many Slytherins to the hospital wing that Fred and George had been sending Harry congratulatory owls about it, but Harry wasn't targeting Slytherins, just people he didn't get on with.

Which _happened_ to include most of Slytherin, a few Ravenclaws and maybe one Hufflepuff…though he did make a rather nice transfigured toilet-roll out of Seamus Finnegan, the only Gryffindor he had a severe fall out with since the end of the third task in the Tri-Wizard tournament.

Most of this had been on Ron's mind for a bit, mainly because he found himself getting a bit scared of his best friend and he really didn't want to be, but the look in Harry's eye when he was duelling was terrifying.

He could actually see why he was the Dark Lords' equal –and that terrified the youngest Weasley boy it really did.

Harry did have a huge amount of respect and a lot of it was lost after he started claiming Voldemort was back, but after Dumbledore starting backing him up and the Ministry became less and less reliable since Sirius Black was found innocent after the break-in at the Department of Mysteries he gained some of that respect back

Whilst they [the Ministry] may have been able to hastily cover up the fact it was Voldemort himself who had been there, they did find and arrest the Death Eaters involved in the break in and thus found Peter Pettigrew, leading to Sirius Black's post-humorous decree of innocence.

Not that this did any good of course, because now he was dead and whilst he had been alive a great amount of his life had been stolen and soiled by the darkest depths of Azkaban prison.

Ron couldn't blame Harry for being a bit unstable after all of that, but he was perplexed when Harry emerged as cool, calm, collected and wise as he'd ever been. Ron Weasley was not a smart child and nor did he have the prior knowledge that Harry was very capable of acting Slytherin in terms of behaviour –masks. He wasn't good at lying but he'd improved significantly and he was great at manipulating the conversation away from his awful summers with the Dursleys or the bruises he got curtosey of Dudley Dursley and his gang of ruffians.

Ron thought he moved on but Hermione knew better and it had niggled at her mind all throughout Ancient Runes.

She decided to try and enjoy the upsides…at least Harry was mature now.

_'Too bad Ron isn't' _she thought as she scrawled down notes.

* * *

Harry had nine first years come to him with home-sickness in between lessons and had he not taken a page out of Dumbledore's book he wasn't sure what he would have done.

While he didn't offer them lemon drops and charm his eyes to twinkle in that annoying fashion, he slipped some Calming Drought potion into glasses of water and calmed the first years down.

Most of his free period was filled with hysterical first years or downright twitchy ones, most of them walked away after a glass of water and some calming words [which Harry was hoping came out right, honestly, he really didn't think he was any good with kids].

He'd also gotten a bit more frigid when he'd been isolated over the summer, so at best he put an hand on the shoulder or an arm around them to stop them shaking about going to their first lessons.

By the end of his free period, he was incredibly glad he didn't take Astronomy as an elective and had a moment to rest.

"How were the firsties?" said Ron after he had finished beating Dean Thomas in a game of chess for the umpteenth time. They hadn't really been paying attention as most that hadn't picked Ancient Runes for an option were either headed to next lesson early, roaming around or hanging out in the common room. But first years had piled up looking nervous and twitchy until Dean lazily told them to go talk to Harry about it since his Head Boy position required him to deal with student problems they felt weren't to be handled by the teaching staff.

"Nine had home sickness and I'll need to stock up on more Calming Drought potions," replied Harry tiredly. In truth he had them in stock along with Dreamless Sleep potions because his nightmares and visions of Voldemort were driving him to absolute madness. He was terrified and not only of what he saw but because the longer he spent in Voldemort's mind the more had he felt his own becoming warped. He was terrified of what he _learned _whenever he went to sleep.

How would you feel if you were trapped within the mind of your most hated and happened to kill everyone around you? How would you feel if you were killing, torturing and maiming from the point of view of the murderer? Harry had seen and felt these things through Voldemort and it scared him to no end, it terrified him when Voldemort sent a 'Crucio' torture curse at his Death Eaters that he actually felt the joy and pleasure that the Dark Lord felt when he cast it.

He could remember when he tried to cast an Unforgivable, only once did he try it from his own wand and he felt dirty and sick after despite the fact it hadn't worked.

Harry remembered the raw rage he felt when Remus held him back from running after Sirius as Bellatrix's spell had knocked him into the veil that claimed his life. He had screamed 'Crucio' at the top of his lungs but it hadn't worked. He wanted her to hurt but he couldn't picture it, he didn't have the type of intent required. It was the same sick Unforgivable torture curse that had sent Neville Longbottom's parents into the St Mungo's Hospital insanity ward with no hope of recovery.

Bellatrix had laughed at his measly attempt in the battle to cast it and her words forever haunted his mind.

'_You have to mean it Potter!'_

But after gaining a new level of entry into Voldemort's mind, he felt like he could do it a million times over. It was the void inside that did it, he assumed that he'd moved on from the fact he didn't feel anything now the closest thing he had to parent [Sirius] was gone. It was a void of depression though and part of him knew it, hence why he didn't touch it with a twenty foot pole and simply avoided mourning or thinking about Sirius as much as he could. But it made him weak, weak enough to suffer more exposure to the depths of the Dark Lord's sick and twisted mind that threatened to taint and corrupt his own.

He was terrified of what he learned when he went to bed at night, for now, he had sixty years worth of Dark Arts knowledge curtosey a-la Tom Marvolo Riddle, Lord Voldemort, the feared and most destructive Dark Lord the world had ever seen who made the previous Dark Lord Grindlewald look like a hack in comparison.

He knew Tom Riddle inside and out and was pretty sure it was the same the other way around too and what frightened him the most was the fact that growing up, they were so similar.

It made him sick.

How would you feel if you were identical to your loved ones' killer?

It opened up a wound of self-loathing that Harry Potter really didn't like to feel at this point, but no amount of Dreamless Sleep could fight it back forever, it was poisoning him from the inside out and he was too terrified to admit it to himself…so how could he ever tell anyone else?

He didn't. He kept it all inside and despite how much any of the Weasley's or Hermione clung to him like glue waiting for the big breakdown and the day he snapped to catch him like a safety net before he fell, a part of him felt that nobody would be able to pick up the pieces.

Nobody.

* * *

Ron snapped Harry out of his gloomy thoughts after glancing at the well-worn second-hand watch on his wrist.

"Aren't them transfers finishing second lesson now?" said Ron.

"Hmm, yeah, I may as well see how they're doing. They probably don't need me to show them to their lessons though, they can just follow the fifth years," said Harry after a moment of thought.

"Nah don't count on it, a lot of 'em picked different stuff and they probably wouldn't like it if the transfers started following them. There are some right dicks in fifth year mate," snorted Ron.

"I'll take your word for it," replied Harry, getting up off the common room chair and heading for the portrait hole. He decided to go and wait outside of Transfiguration for them anyway to try and distract from his frightfully dark thoughts and Ron trying to get him into a game of chess he'd undoubtedly lose.

* * *

When Transfiguration was over the transfer students found Harry leaning against the wall by the door casually chatting to a portrait of Dayuexses The Tall.

"Harry?" said Yugi, bringing Harry's attention away from the portrait which grinned and ended the conversation swiftly.

"How was Transfiguration?" he asked, to which Yugi's eyes lit up as he excitedly babbled about how he managed to give a goblet a coat of feathers.

"It was really hard though, I only managed to give mine a tail and we supposed to be turning them into doves or mice," snorted Marik, remembering his one-eighth-transfigured goblet with the twitching tail.

"Transfiguration is really hard, that and Potions. I'm surprised they haven't got any catch-up classes or something for you guys, you did miss a lot after all," said Harry, furrowing his brow in thought.

"I think we're supposed to catch up in our own time, but I don't think we ever will," groaned Yugi, remembering how difficult McGonagall's class was.

"Well, I'm okay at Charms and Transfiguration but Defense Against the Dark Arts is the subject I'm top in. I can help you out there, for everything else there's 'Mione, our resident genius," said Harry wryly.

"She'll help you guys catch up if I nag her enough," said Harry lightly.

"Thanks," muttered Ryou, finally saying something.

"How did you do in it?" asked Harry hoping that for the shy albino's sake that he did better in this class then he did in Charms.

"I gave my goblet a beak and some weak bird's legs and it started running all over the table," he grinned knowing he did somewhat better then even the fifth years that had struggled with getting change at all in their goblets and poor Burgis had made his explode [much to the ire of the professor].

"What do you have now Harry?" asked Yugi.

"Nothing, I didn't pick Astronomy or Ancient Runes as options so I don't have any classes right now. In about an hour I have double Potions," he grimaced at the thought, being in no rush to see Professor Snape.

"I can drop you off at DADA 'cause I don't really have anywhere to be," he said as they began to make their way down the moving staircases to the Serpentine Corridor. He could patrol the corridors for stray lost first years and lesson skippers but he had enough of dealing with first years for one day and was in no mood to barter with a moody upper year.

"Who's teaching us Defense Against the Dark Arts? it doesn't say on our planners," frowned Marik. Harry blinked and flashed back to the start of term feast announcements and didn't remember any fresh faces at the staff table or any new announcements with regards to who'd be teaching.

"I don't know actually…." Harry looked briefly guilty before admitting "-I wouldn't be surprised if the headmaster had a hard time finding someone wanting to take the position, there's a rumour it's cursed. I hope whoever's doing it now though just doesn't try to kill me,"

The transfers gave him a funny look.

"Every single DADA teacher -save for one who was a werewolf, has attempted to kill me or hurt me," snorted the Boy-Who-Lived, remembering that only Remus Lupin hadn't tried to kill him out of all the past DADA teachers.

"Wow, really?" said Ryou before he could stop himself.

"Yep, incidentally, it's always me who ends up giving them a forceful retirement," he added quietly.

"I don't think you'll have to worry about me trying to kill you m'boy," said a warm voice when they had reached the door of the classroom. It clicked open itself to reveal Headmaster Dumbledore smiling at them.

"Professor Dumbledore? Y—you're teaching?" Harry was a bit thrown off by that but at least it wasn't Snape.

"Only until we can find a new Potions professor so Professor Snape can teach Defense Against the Dark Arts," replied Dumbledore, ushering the transfers in kindly. Harry instantly cringed at the very thought of it, the last thing he needed was Snape to have an excuse to use him as a public duelling toy to throw spells at in front of the class.

Just as Harry turned to leave after dropping off the transfers the headmaster had called him back in as the fifth years took their seats and stared at them both.

"Do you have a lesson now Harry?" he asked, looking over his half-moon glasses at Harry.

"No, I have a free period now," answered back Harry.

"Well then, perhaps you wouldn't mind sitting in on the lesson and assisting?" it came out of the blue and for a moment, Harry was mulling it over wandering how much Dumbledore had heard about him teaching the DA last year which was probably why he asked for him to assist in the lesson.

"Uh…okay Professor," nervously he stood at the side of Dumbledore who did the lesson introduction.

"Can anyone tell me how much Mr. Lockheart taught you about the art of duelling?" he asked the class and nobody had raised their hand, to Dumbledore's knowledge he was the only staff member to cover it in DADA and he was fairly incompetent.

"He dain't teach us squat!" yelled a voice from the back, sending ripples of agreement throughout the class.

"Unfortunately, when the chance for a duel arises outside of an arena, you can be certain they aren't going to follow the rules –which are quite different from what Mr. Lockheart taught them as," said Dumbledore, taking the attention of the fifth years which were staring curiously at Harry who had sat in on the lesson.

"Mr. Potter and I shall demonstrate a practice duel, please make a note of the techniques and if you have any questions please withhold them until the end," he said with a small smile. With a few complicated wand gestures the class saw the room walls expand to make the room bigger and the desks and chairs move back to give the headmaster and Harry room.

Harry swallowed –he didn't have a chance against Dumbledore, mock duel or not, he was going to make a fool out of himself and all Dumbledore could do was twinkle incessantly at him with a slight smirk.

"I don't stand a chance against you Professor," grumbled Harry, flourishing his wand from his sleeve holster.

"Don't hold back," was all the headmaster said to him, which shocked him a bit more. He didn't think he could inflict damage to Dumbledore even if he tried!

The entire fifth year class had eyes as wide as saucers –the headmaster was going to duel Harry Potter! Even though it was merely a mock duel, Harry was told not to hold back and the class fully expected to see the power that was capable of evading and defeating the Dark Lord on multiple occasions.

"Oh dear Merlin they _can't _be serious—"

"Dumbledore will wipe the floor with him!"

"Rather him then me—"

"Harry has a shot at least! I think…maybe…"

The students were muttering excitedly and were mere inches from actually placing bets but the majority of the room was under the consensus that Dumbledore had a higher chance of winning but Harry actually had a fair shot at besting him.

"Mr. Burke, if you could count us in please, and class for your safety, please keep to the back of the room," advised the elderly wizard. Harry unclipped the cloak of his uniform and levitated it to an empty chair and braced himself.

The fifth year Markus Burke nodded and counted from three from the front row of the back of the class.

"3….2….1…"

Dumbledore shot a disarming charm straight for Harry's chest and Harry instinctively jumped out of the way and aimed for Dumbledore's knees with a quick Jelly-Legs Jinx. Dumbledore smiled at his choice of spell and put up a silent protego shield.

"Now, now, Mr. Potter –what did I say about holding back?"

Harry gulped as he narrowly avoided a stinging hex that was geared to his turned back, almost to his rear.

"Why would you aim a stinging hex there?" Harry snapped in indignation, sending giggles throughout the class and getting a slight laugh out of the headmaster, it only served to remind that it was a friendly duel.

Harry found himself very quickly bending backwards into an arch to avoid a barrage of spells that he had no hope of shielding against. His back ached somewhat but he didn't let it show and at times like this was glad that he was at least flexible.

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, in terms of physical fitness it became apparent that Dumbledore hadn't a hope of besting Harry if he found a way to use it offensively, but with Dumbledore's spell prowess he would never get close enough.

Grabbing his wand from his side again, Harry decided to do as Dumbledore had said.

Don't hold back.

Whilst he couldn't use all of the knowledge he had at his disposal, he knew what Dumbledore was referring too –use whatever advantages he had over him even if he thinks they're unfair. Harry was along the right lines when he started using his flexibility to creatively avoid curses and hexes that he could not shield against but he also had something else he could use.

Parseltongue.

Against his better judgement and on the advice of the headmaster 'Don't hold back,' Harry fired for Dumbledore's feet.

"Serpensortia! Serpensortia! Serpensortia! Serpensortia!" Harry cast consecutively without looking Dumbledore in the eye, knowing he was a legillimens and would have used that skill to see what spell was on his mind. Four bursts of light shot from Harry's wand and elongated into four deadly snakes as they hit the ground, sending ripples of gasps throughout the class and Dumbledore looked surprised too when Harry started willingly using his Parseltongue ability.

Harry found himself looking into the expectant beady eyes of four snakes willing to do his bidding, his words came out as stretched hisses that sent shudders throughout the class and made a lot of the fifth years turn pale. A lot of people had forgotten Harry had that ability since the whole heir of Slytherin thing back in his second year when the Chamber of Secrets was opened.

_"Attack the bearded one, but don't kill….dissstract, dissstract him,"_

With Dumbledore suitably distracted by the multitude of serpents slithering at magically enhanced speeds by his feet and threatening to crawl up his legs.

In addition to all of this, Harry put so much magic into conjuring them that the a-standard 'Finite Incantatem' had trouble destroying without multiple casting and it was hard because Harry had summoned four of them too.

"Flipendo!" Harry yelled, knocking the headmaster back into the wall to make it easier for the snakes.

"Immobulus!" he aimed at Dumbledore, who, despite his difficult situation repelled the spell with ease and sent it ricocheting into the wall.

Dumbledore smartly cast an 'Impervius' to his legs to repel the snakes away from him and quickly was able to dispel them.

Just as Harry shouted "Stupefy!" a stunning spell, Dumbledore sidestepped it and had cast "Locomotor Mortis" leg locker curse that hit Harry's legs and stuck them together. Harry fell onto his rear in a somewhat ungraceful fashion and in the chaos his wand rolled out of his hand to the floor which the headmaster promptly summoned into his hand.

The duel looked over, with Harry half-heartedly glaring at the professor…who kept on bloody twinkling at him.

'_I should have sent a blinding hex,'_ thought Harry dryly.

"I believe this duel is over Mr. Potter," he said with an ever calm expression that Harry found almost patronizing.

_'Don't hold back'_

_'You have 60 years of Dark Arts knowledge and other stuff from…Voldemort, his amazing skills in DADA as well as your own,'_

"No it isn't," said Harry calmly, and there was two minutes of silence before the word 'ACCIO' was screamed in his mind when he looked away from the headmaster and held an arm out with an open palm. Calling for the first thing he saw with nothing but the summoning charm being screamed through his mind along with the semi-focused intent he snarled.

**"CHAIR!"**

The chair he was staring at slid out from right under Burgis, sending the fifth year right on his butt and the chair flew at an amazing blink-speed for Dumbledore and collided painfully to his chest, pinning him to the wall. The chair then slid down and clattered to the floor, almost breaking a bit. The headmaster slumped a bit as and undid the leg-locker off of Harry.

"Now it's over," breathed Harry, wiping sweat from his brow, expecting Dumbledore to be a bit peeved but instead he was impressed!

"That was an amazing bout of controlled wandless magic and for most of the part it was wordless save for what you called forth. Had it not been a summoning charm I wouldn't have had a clue what spell it was –I hope you're taking notes class,"

"I think we can call this a draw," he handed Harry his wand back and gestured for him to take a seat which he conjured up beside the teacher's chair at the front desk. Summoning his cloak from the back of his class, he grinned sheepishly and tried not to look in the faces of the pale kids. The use of Parseltongue had put an air of fear in the room that Dumbledore did his best to dispel.

He did murmur to Harry to stay behind after though and his stomach twisted uncomfortably. He wished so hard that he knew Occlumency. What if Dumbledore went through his mind and saw how much Harry knew? What if he thought he was going dark because of it? What if he saw the emptiness that he, himself was far too afraid of to deal with in case by the end of it, they'd be nothing left of him as a person?

All he had were masks and names and personalities shaped from those around him, growing up with Dursley's it had been 'Freak', then when he came into Hogwarts he'd very reluctantly become 'Hero' then a 'Pariah' and now 'Hero' again. Whenever he didn't know what to do he tried to take a leaf out of someone else's book to the point where he wasn't sure of himself anymore and constantly second-guessed. Harry Potter was now almost completely sure he was going mad in some way, how could this be normal?

How could it be normal to have 60 years worth of knowledge in Dark Arts and to sit in the back of the mind of a murderer?

What if Dumbledore saw right through him?

'_Don't look into his eyes, or he'll see into your soul, Harry'_ whispered his mind.

Dumbledore had gone through the spells that were used and began to rattle on about OWLs [which, he being a year above had already sat through].

_'Making the serpent kind do your bidding? Who does that remind you of?_' murmured a part of Harry's mind that he so desperately wished would shut up.

* * *

The transfer students waited outside the classroom when lesson was over and Harry was told to stay behind. He squirmed in his chair uncomfortably and did anything to look at the headmaster in the eye in case the man would see the darkness that poisoned him slowly from the inside-out.

"Is there anything you'd like to talk to me about m'boy?"

"No Sir,"

* * *

_xxxEndChapterxxx_


	4. Choices & Actions

_I do not own YuGiOh or Harry Potter, the following is a RyouxHarry slash and blah blah if you want the full warnings go back a few chapters… to be clear this is not a HarryxDraco despite what you might think after this chapter, it's rather…familial._

_

* * *

_

Harry seemed uneasy when he got out of DADA and ran late for Potions after dropping the transfers off. Despite having a note from Dumbledore, Professor Snape was not in a good mood whatsoever and docked points off Gryffindor for tardiness and proceeded to insult Harry as undeserving of Head Boy status. A few Slytherins smirked but if Harry didn't know any better he'd say that even they grew tired of the Head of Houses' antics sometimes.

The corridors rippled with conversation of Harry using Parseltongue and facing off against the headmaster, if Harry didn't stick to his composure he would have crawled under a rock by now.

"Potter! What do I get if I added boomslang to a phobius potion in its third stage?" sneered Snape. Harry flinched and almost dropped said boomslang into his phobius potion and smoothly stopped and instead threw the dead newts.

"The Waking Nightmare potion Sir," said Harry as he inwardly dreaded Snape's next barb which would surely point out his almost-mistake to the rest of the NEWT level class.

"Then put at least an iota of attention to your potion and try not to make such a grievous mistake! 5 points from Gryffindor for not paying attention, this is a NEWT level class and the potions are semi-dangerous Potter," snarled Snape, who then moved to torment Neville Longbottom who had grown a bit more spine over the year but was still scared of Snape.

"Typical Potty can't even make a basic NEWT level potion," sneered Malfoy from the desk across from Harry's on the Slytherin end of the class.

Ron was about to retort on Harry's behalf before Hermione stepped on his foot and hissed at him to pay attention to their own potion and ignore Malfoy.

"Oh I can Malfoy, you see the colouring is turning about right, and wow…please refrain from the name-calling. For Merlin's sake you're a prefect," Harry decided to hit Malfoy's pride where it hurt.

"Honestly, I thought Malfoy's had a little more class and subtlety in public," he said, just loud enough for Malfoy to hear but low enough to appear like he was muttering unimpressed, to himself.

Malfoy's jaw shut with an audible click and instead he settled for glaring a hole through Harry who made a point of ignoring him for the rest of the class, much to the joy of Hermione who celebrated that he'd actually matured.

He insulted Malfoy and essentially called him uncouth which was a high insult to the pureblooded and stuck up.

Ron, Hermione and Harry could guess he was probably irked beyond belief at this.

When the painfully long double potions class ended, he was clapped on the back by a grinning Ron.

"Loved how you handled Malfoy, didya see his face? He was going all red I thought he was going to pop a blood vessel or something," laughed Ron.

"You handled it quite maturely Harry," praised Hermione as they all walked down the corridor.

They headed down the emptier corridor and muttered their hellos to rather lonely portraits, in honesty they did it to take a detour from Filch who was looking at Harry like he was the next Dark Lord.

They went down to their shared Charms lesson after catching the transfers make their way to the classroom adjacent to theirs in one piece and sat through an hour on the theory of masking charms.

Something was off about Draco Malfoy.

Nobody else seemed to notice it aside from maybe Dumbledore and Professor Snape but Harry sure did.

He didn't dare voice his thoughts out loud but it was niggling at him, the same way what Hermione had mentioned to him was.

'The Potters were pureblood until your father married Lily Evans, I mean, I think the whole blood-thing is ridiculous because of all the genetic risks of inbreeding. I think almost every pureblood family is obscurely related to another….'

When he lost Sirius Black, he decided to look up his ancestry. There were hints of the Gryffindor line in the Potter family, other then that there was nothing odd until Harry looked up magical irregularities after Sirius's will reading.

He was thinly related to Sirius (as he was Black and there was at least one Potter who married into the Black family before the first war) but the stronger bond came through magic. Sirius named him heir to The Ancient and Noble House of Black through magic, and therefore his magic somehow put him in relation with the Malfoy's who had married into the Black family.

Through obscure and hugely confusing means, Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter were related in a (thankfully) distant relative relationship.

This meant something for Harry Potter no matter how hard he tried to put it out his head. His entire family line aside from that nutty bitch Bellatrix was dead…except for the Malfoys.

Draco Malfoy had to count for something, and for someone so high on pureblood right and ancestral knowledge he had to have known that he was related to Harry Potter no matter how obscure it was.

'_Maybe that's why he offered you his hand in friendship in first year'_ he thought for a moment.

Charms ended and Hermione and Ron asked Harry what was on his mind, trying to get him out of his daze. He didn't dare voice his thoughts and reminded Hermione that they needed to round up the prefects to sort out patrol times. Lessons were over and students were out for another few hours until curfew and they had that long to sort out patrol times and such.

Ron rolled his eyes and muttered something about 'perfect prefects' until a wicked gleam came in his eye and he darted off.

"Right, everyone's here except Malfoy," frowned Hermione when the prefects met in the fourth corridor connected to the steps that led to the areas of peach's hidden common room.

"He wasn't with me and he wasn't in the common room," sneered Pansy Parkinson, glaring at the mudblood who made Head Girl over her.

"I'll look for him," said Harry suddenly, surprising everyone.

"Are you sure? We can get Parkinson to l—" Hermione was smoothly cut off by Harry who idly twirled his wand in between his fingers, mind still in deep thought.

"No, no…I'll do it," he murmured, casted a quick 'Point Me' charm and scowled when it didn't pick up anything.

It seemed Draco Malfoy did not want to be found.

"I'll go look for him, I'll take late patrol times and you guys can work the rest out," said Harry, who suddenly felt a sense of urgency as he decided to walk to the third floor corridor.

* * *

The third floor was scarcely populated and nobody had seen Malfoy, so he went back down the steps and decided to think a little more.

'Where would I hide if I didn't have secret passage access and didn't want to be found?'

Harry walked to the second floor and awoke a sleeping princess portrait to ask if she'd seen a boy with platinum blond hair walk by.

"Hmm I think so, he seemed rather distraught, he headed down the corridor to Merlin-knows-where, I'm sure there's no class rooms there," she said sounding very, very tired and fell back to sleep almost instantly.

Harry frowned, the words 'Malfoy' and 'Distraught' did not go together. Malfoy was the Ice Prince of Slytherin (since the start of the year) and before then he'd only ever seen Malfoy being snotty or getting angry or being overly-happy about his fictional accomplishments.

He had seen Malfoy scared perhaps once, maybe twice in there several years at Hogwarts, but never _distraught._

Harry scowled and went on his hunch, heading down the second floor corridor to the deserted girl's bathrooms where he was immediately confronted by Moaning Myrtle.

"Oooh I don't think you want to come in Harry, I'm having a moment," she bawled.

Before Harry could offer half-hearted comfort or contemplate just walking through the annoying ghost, Myrtle continued.

"With the other sad boy, so go shoo! I bet you're just here to whisk him off and then I'll be even lonelier!"

"I'm here to see what's wrong," said Harry calmly "-please excuse me," Myrtle nodded and floated up a sink tap, though peeking her head through to see what was going on.

Harry frowned lightly when he heard poorly quietened sobbing, decidedly masculine. He walked past the sinks and to a figure slumped up by a shattered mirror. There was glass all over the floor and Harry could not have been more unprepared for what he saw.

Draco Malfoy was crying.

* * *

"Piss off Potter," he snarled, springing to his feet. When Harry looked he couldn't see any sign of swollen eyes or tears as they were swiftly glamour-charmed.

"I came to get you for the prefect's meeting regarding patrols but we can let Parkinson take whatever shift you get for now. What the ruddy hell happened Malfoy?" it was hard to approach Malfoy as if he was a sobbing first year which Harry had plenty of experience with and he didn't think the Malfoy would appreciate it. So he kept a civil tongue but couldn't stop the bizarre concern seeping into his voice.

"As if you care Potter, you'll just brag about this to your groupies," he said back.

"I…I don't hate you Malfoy, I may dislike you but I don't hate you. I certainly wouldn't brag about something like this," said Harry who almost felt a bit offended by the Slytherin's assumptions.

"That's a shame Potter, because I actually DO hate you, so just leave!" he snapped.

Potter refused to budge.

"You broke the mirror, why?" he said, pointedly ignoring Malfoy's angry cursing at him.

"I don't owe you an explanation Potter, but if you must know I was…angry," for someone supposedly good at lying it was a bad lie.

"No. You're upset, there's a difference; just tell me what's wrong?" he half-pleaded, curiosity got the better of him, normally he'd be comforting and ask questions later but he never had to come to the emotional aid of his nemesis before.

"I'm not one of your homesick whiny first years Potter," growled Malfoy indignantly, wiping a tear that slipped out under the glamour charm hastily.

"Why on Earth are you even bothering me about this?" he said, confused and somewhat angry.

"You're upset and we're uh…" he blurted it out rather stupidly "-distant family you know,"

Malfoy snorted and gave Harry the 'you're-dumb-Potter' look.

"Every pureblood or halfblood is distantly related. It doesn't mean anything," he said.

"Yeah well you're talking to someone who doesn't exactly have a family so it does mean something," wow, that sounded pathetic even to Harry.

He was looking for family in his enemy.

His schoolyard rival.

Pathetic.

"Pathetic Potter, really pathetic,"

Harry winced at Malfoy's words.

"I swear on my life and my magic that I will not use what Draco Malfoy says or does tonight in this bathroom against him when we leave," said Harry quietly.

"You idiot, that was a wizard's oath, you'll become practically a squib," snorted Malfoy.

"I know, and that's IF I break it, and I won't. I promise,"

"You say that as if I'm going to spill everything to you," returned Malfoy smoothly until Harry gave him The Look.

The Look that made him seem older then he was, the fatherly I'm-Disappointed-In-You look that most people hated to see on his face because it had as much sway as a puppy-dog expression no matter who you were.

"Fine Potter, you want to know so badly?" his voice went a little louder.

Harry needed to brace himself and unfortunately he didn't and even if he tried, no amount of preparation would help him to find an appropriate reaction to what Draco Malfoy said next.

"I have to kill the headmaster,"

* * *

Hermione scowled and worked Harry and Malfoy's schedules out around everyone elses who had first pick of their patrol times.

"You think they're okay?" asked one of the Hufflepuff prefects.

"They'll be fine," said Hermione handing out their charmed up patrol schedules and hoped she was right.

Something seemed really off about Harry and Malfoy recently.

* * *

Harry stared at Malfoy and noticed a lot of things; he was paler, had circles around his eyes and lost a lot of weight. The fate the Dark Lord had chosen to assign the youngest Malfoy had clearly been eating at him.

The Boy-Who-Lived watched as his enemy began to let loose on him everything that had caused him to seek solace in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

Voldemort would kill his family if he did not kill Albus Dumbledore.

It seemed the unmarked 'Death-Eater' was in quite a pickle.

"There. Happy now?" snapped Malfoy at the end of his tirade.

"No not really, I don't like your parents or their stand in the… in things," he almost said upcoming war but didn't want to guarantee it buy saying so out loud.

"But I don't want to see you lose your family or kill the headmaster," said Harry honestly.

"Yeah well, there's nothing that can be done Potter and now I bet you'll get him out the castle or something and my family will die anyway!" cursed Malfoy, raising his wand to hex Harry out of emotional rage-turmoil.

But he didn't cast anything. His wand just lingered there.

"Maybe there is. I mean, maybe we can move your family to a safe spot and we can get Dumbledore to—"

"I'm not a blood traitor Potter and neither my father, he'd never consent to being moved or siding with Dumbledore,"

Harry held up his hand and Malfoy didn't accept it, choosing to get up onto his feet himself and stare down Harry despite his miserable state.

"What's more important? Serving your family or Voldemort?–" flinch "-if it was the latter then there'd be no difficulty about killing the headmaster and YOU wouldn't be in this choosing position right now,"

Potter had him there.

"L—Look, it's your choice okay and if we end up on the opposite sides out…in…err…battle I guess then fine. But don't do it all on a brash decision alright? I never thought you were evil Malfoy, and evil is having the strength to kill someone innocent. I don't think you have that and I don't think you ever will," said Harry flatly as if he was reading the Malfoy heir like a book.

"Just think about this okay? If your father has to choose between family and Voldemort, would he choose you?"

Malfoy hated the answer to that question.

His father, whilst loving him in some way would surely choose the Dark Lord.

"Sticking by your family is noble but what's more important is having a family anyway. I know about your dad Malfoy and I think he's made his choice, but there's probably other people who love you in your family,"

Malfoy nodded, Narcissa Malfoy his mother sprang to mind as did Severus Snape his godfather.

"Save them from Voldemort, just think about getting away from this and you won't have to kill anyone. Ideally the 'Light side' would prolly want you to stay and fight if you don't choose Voldemort, but I rather the less people on the battlefield the better. Less chance of death. I don't want you to lose your family Malfoy," Harry then gave the blond a pointed look.

"I wouldn't even wish that on my worst enemy_," because I know how bad it hurts…_

"If I don't do the Dark Lord's wishes Potter then it's assumed we're on the side of blood traitors and I'm not willing to die for them, maybe for my family but not for Dumbledore and his losing side," explained Malfoy irritated as if Harry was an incredibly slow child.

"Then get away from this, use the Fidelius charm—" began Harry.

"The Dark Lord could still find us, they found your parents didn't they?" interjected Malfoy.

"—and flee the country if you have to!" added Harry.

"You have options Malfoy and I know you're not a killer and I know you don't want your family dead so just think about it," Harry finished.

Draco Malfoy would have no idea how someone with just the right words, just the right movements at just the right junctures could be battling the darkness inside himself too.

They both walked out of the bathroom in silence and parted ways, concluding that the meeting with the prefects was probably over by now anyway.

"I still hate you Potter," he had muttered, he didn't think Harry could ever understand the feeling of having good an evil battle inside you to the point it slowly destroys you.

Oh how wrong he was, Harry understood this all too well.

* * *

Harry met the transfers staying up in the Gryffindor commons attempting to catch up on their basics with Hermione occasionally interjecting from her seat by the fireplace.

"Hey Harry!" said Yugi with some relief as it gave an excuse to look up from his incredibly boring beginner's Potion's theory book.

"Where was Malfoy then? Did you find him? Why didn't you come back to the prefects' meeting?" asked Hermione the second he came through the portrait hole.

"By the time I found him he…well it took an hour or so," lied Harry "-by that time I guessed we missed everything and we both headed back. Apparently Malfoy didn't get the notice about the meeting,"

Hermione gave him a levelled stare and eventually brought it, causing Harry to sag with relief.

Marik could plainly see Harry was lying as could Ryou but they didn't call him out on it.

Harry moved over to the cushy sofa-chair and before Yugi could think to move, Marik did and created a space between him and Ryou for Harry to sit between them.

The albino was suddenly very uncomfortable, and Yugi noticed him squirming too but didn't make a comment.

"So how was your first day?" was the first thing he asked.

Harry was unbearably nice.

Marik tried disliking him, tried to find him patronizing or annoying or something because it seemed that everyone was quickly won over by his kind nature.

"Well we didn't get lost much thanks to you," grinned Yugi "-so thanks,"

"We were okay, but we're so behind," commented Marik, flicking through a Charms textbook on his lap.

"Hermione's been helping us catch up though," chirped up Ryou, not looking Harry in the face, not wanting close proximity facially as they sat right next to the other.

"Did you guys make any friends?" asked Harry.

"The fifth years are okay I guess but it's been kind of hard too cause…err…" Yugi trailed off.

"They're dicks," said Ron, coming down the boy's dormitory staircase with an unusually wicked smirk directed at Harry (who'd find out why tomorrow).

"Yeah," muttered Yugi.

"Hang out with us then, I don't mind," said Harry coolly.

"Oh by the way you should probably get an early night we have Melee early in the morning, the Hufflepuffs are on late patrol, don't worry," added Hermione as an afterthought.

Harry groaned. He could see why they needed duelling and melee classes but they were extra's that chewed into their relaxation time or early morning that always left his entire sleepless body aching.

Hands trailing over the athame strapped at his side, Harry slouched into the sofa on the verge of pouting.

He really wasn't in the mood to wake up early; he had far too much to think about when he slept on it.

It was a bit odd for the transfers to see Harry brush away some of his composure and grace in order to sulk, but they found themselves all untensing a bit anyway.

"Oi Harry, have you seen Colin anywhere?" asked Ron with a frown, the boy had become less annoying though still ever-the-shutterbug. But during the free period, Ron had enraptured him in a game of chess and Colin had come close to winning and Ron wanted a rematch before bed.

"Creevey? Nope, I haven't seen him all day actually," frowned Harry wondering why he didn't notice.

"Yeah, his little brother's been looking for him too, I think he snuck out," shrugged Ron.

Harry immediately sat up causing Ryou and Marik who were sat at either side of him to look over at him.

"What? When was the last time anyone saw him?" he asked.

Ron looked confused at Harry's overreaction.

"Err, this morning. He didn't show up for lessons but he's probably just bunking it," everyone seemed to have put it down to that.

But Colin hadn't been seen anywhere in the castle.

Harry got up and apologized to the transfer students who pitied him a bit, it seemed that he was constantly rushed off his feet by something or other and was bending over backwards to accommodate others and fix their problems.

Harry questioned Dennis and Dennis finally spilled the beans.

"Well, I heard s—some Slytherins were bullying him but I didn't believe it. When I asked him he said he wasn't getting bullied and then I heard some of them talking saying they broke his camera. I asked them what they did with him and they said nuffing except break his camera but I bet they were lying cause I haven't seen him since and, and, and—" rambled the small first year Dennis Creevey looking on the verge of tears as if he was in trouble.

"Do you know who these Slytherins were?" asked Harry calmly, putting a hand on the twitching boy's shoulder.

"B—Blaise Zabini was one of 'em," he managed, it was the only one of them who's names he knew.

Harry nodded and then advised Dennis to go back to his room and not to worry about him, but he had this sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

* * *

Harry had practically ran down the boy's staircase and bolted through the common room, kicked open the portrait hole and left it swinging as he sprinted down the corridors.

"Bloody hell, what was that all about?" asked Dean Thomas, walking in moments after Harry had run out and brushed past him as he entered the portrait hole into the commons.

"No idea," shrugged Ron.

Hermione would have questioned it but she had gone to bed when Harry went up to the boy's dorms and the transfers looked at each other nervously.

"What do you thinks going on?" asked Yugi.

"Honestly? Probably nothing good. I ain't seen Harry run like that…ever," said Ron quietly.

Everyone was silent.

* * *

When Harry interrogated the portraits near the seemingly hidden Slytherin common room in the dungeons, they admitted seeing a group of Slytherins carrying a smaller boy through the pumpkin patch-exit after Harry threatened to burn their portraits with them still in it if they didn't spill.

He would have interrogated Zabini too but he didn't know the Slytherin's password and didn't think his Head Boy status extended this far into letting him into other houses.

When he ran past Hagrid's hut in the darkening evening right the way through the pumpkin patch, past the sleeping dog Fang right up to the silver gates on the edge of the Forbidden Forest he cursed to the top of his lungs.

There was a shred of Gryffindor robe that had been caught between the fences that probably belonged to Colin Creevey.

Meaning the Slytherin's probably thought it was funny to sling him in the Forbidden Forest, probably for taking pictures of them or annoying them without realizing he was.

Fuck.

Turning his heel he ran to Hagrid's hut again and practically blew the straw house down with raw magic alone.

"Wha's going on 'Arry?" asked the surprised half-giant.

Pant. Pant. Pant.

"It's Colin Creevey!"

* * *

Harry could not sleep that night, or any night for that matter but today was especially bad.

Breakfast was even worse.

Owl post had come as usual and the teachers had looked torn as a black letter arrived on the talons of a raven straight for Dennis Creevey who was looking for signs of his brother at the Gryffindor table.

He wasn't there.

Frowning, he munched on his toast and Harry stopped chatting with Ron and Marik. The table had suddenly gone painfully silent and the rest of the hall had gone a bit quieter as the raven was spotted.

"Excuse me a sec Ryou," Harry got up from next to him and walked down to Dennis and tapped him lightly on the shoulder.

"Yeah Harry?" he asked, buttery fingers about to open the black letter while the other fed toast into his mouth.

"See that letter Dennis? I wouldn't open it at the table, err...open it in private," Harry whispered as he leaned down to the first years ear, ignoring the stares he was getting as the only one out of his chair in the Great Hall.

"Why?" asked the muggle-born confusedly.

"It's…it's not good news. Black letters are never good news," said Harry quietly and sadly.

"Oh like howlers?" said Dennis, shuddering at the idea, he'd heard of those things and didn't like them one bit.

"I suppose," said Harry, not knowing how to put it "-just put it in your pocket and open it later, okay?" he didn't need Dennis to start breaking down in the middle of the Great Hall.

Confused but complacent the first year nodded and happily continued to munch his toast, oblivious, and nobody in Gryffindor wanted to pop his bubble to tell him what kind of letter, black raven-delivered ones were.

Harry sat back down next to Ryou and sighed looking considerably less happy.

"What's going on?" asked Ryou nervously, and squirmed when Harry looked him straight in the eye and talked in a low tone so Dennis wouldn't hear.

"Black letters are automatically sent when someone, a wizard, dies. It's an informant, I would know. I had one anyway when—," Harry stopped, realizing they probably didn't know about the epic tale involving Sirius Black.

"I just told him to open it in private," said Harry quietly.

"Oh…" managed Ryou, eyes looking over at the oblivious first year sadly.

"Is this to do with you sprinting out the common room like a mad-man last night?" asked Marik forwardly.

Harry looked at the others not-so-subtly leaning in to listen to their conversation.

"I'll tell you later," he muttered and settled for glaring at Blaise Zabini at the end of the Slytherin table.

* * *

_xxxEnd Chapterxxx_


	5. The Angels With The Broken Halos

_I do not own YuGiOh or Harry Potter, the following is a RyouxHarry slash and blah blah if you want the full warnings go back a few chapters…_

_

* * *

_

Dumbledore was not happy with the way things were going, he was a busy man and simply did not have the time or stamina to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. The plan was to have Severus Snape teach DADA once he found a capable potions instructor to fill the other position. There were very few graduate potions masters in England and those who had come for a job interview with the headmaster had failed to reach Severus Snape's teaching standard. The man had incredibly big shoes to fill in terms of teaching potions and there was only one person he could think of that would do the job capably and that was only if he could convince them to teach at Hogwarts again.

Horace Slughorn.

There was something odd happening around Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the wards of the castle set in by the founders are capable of being controlled by the headmaster and the headmaster only and should be be out of their reach, then to the deputy head or the next most powerful light wizard within it's walls. As the ward's master of Hogwarts he could sense whenever the castle put up another of it's natural defenses.

It's natural werewolf repellent had been put down and edited along with every creature-repulsion, so that creatures could enter Hogwarts when they pleased so long as they were invited within it's walls, thus keeping the nasties of the Forbidden Forest away from students but not aliening any students or staff that should happen to fall in the non-human catagory.

Something odd had happened, and one of the whirring ward trackers on Dumbledore's shelf of ornaments in his office told him too, the castle had put up it's anti-vampire ward.

It hadn't put up that ward in centuries.

Since he sensed it the headmaster felt uneased and thought this would go when he apparated off to find Horace Slughorn, but it followed him.

When he found Horace Slughorn, he found the man to be horribly pale...and to be blunt:

Dead.

It looked like he'd still have the DADA position open, but whatever had killed Horace had unsettled Dumbledore. There had been no attack surrounding the area of Horace Slughorn's home, everything seemed perfectly normal and not out of place, there wasn't even a drop of blood surrounding the corpse. Horace Slughorn had been targeted.

But why?

* * *

Breakfast had ended and consciously or unconsciously Harry found himself trailing after Dennis Creevey.

"I left my athame in my dorm," he said, not even looking back at Hermione or Ron who just stared after him as he followed Dennis back to the common room. Dennis must have forgotten something there, he'd be late for his first lesson.

Marik, Ryou and Yugi had picked the same subject options on their induction and had first period free.

"Don't you have melee now?" said Marik suddenly, remembering Hermione mentioned it last night.

"Left my athame in my dorm," muttered Harry again.

Dennis Creevey had bolted up the boy's staircase and come back down with essays for Potions tucked under his arm. Blinking and coming to a sudden halt when he reached the bottom of the steps, his hand reached into his robe pocket and got out the black letter.

The few Gryffindors scattered about had left while a few noticed Dennis had a black letter in his hand and had slowed or stopped completely in their place.  
Harry came down with his athame strapped to his waist and stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked at Dennis who was frozen in his place. The essay under his arm had slipped out from under him and flew out all over the floor but he didn't seem to notice.

"Shall I tell the professor's you're going to be late?" asked Hermione from the portrait hole along with Ron, who decided that Harry was taking a bit too long and seemed to be side tracked with Dennis.

"Err yeah... if I don't come at all then I'll talk to Professor Dumbledore later," he called back, only half paying attention to them.

They had grudgingly left when Hermione glanced at the time and had dragged Ron out by his arm.

A horrible stillness settled over the Gryffindor common room.

Dennis had gone horribly pale and his big blue eyes had started to shine, he brought his knuckle to his mouth and sunk his teeth lightly into it as he tried to stop the hand that held the black letter from shaking.

Through the myriad of formal wording and layout of the black automated letter the message was simple.

Colin Creevey had died.

"Dennis? Dennis, are you alright?" asked Harry softly, knowing it was probably not the best question to ask and the answer was obvious but the boy hadn't the voice in him to answer.  
With a light frown Harry turned to Marik, Ryou and Yugi who were looking over from the Gryffindor common room sofa and gestured to the staircase at the side of them and mouthed 'Please go' and returned his stare to Dennis.  
Dennis eventually looked up from the letter at Harry and gently tugged his sleeve.

" 'sis is a joke right? " whimpered Dennis.

The transfers looked uneasy and sad at the scene playing out and made their way up the stairs but peeked down to keep an eye on what was unfolding,

"No Dennis, unfortunately it isn't. That's automated from the Ministy's record of registered wizards and witches, I'm afraid..." Harry stopped there, he didn't want to repeat the painful words to Dennis that his big brother was dead. He hadn't the heart to actually say that, the black letter did that for him.

"Everyone, go to your lessons or if your on free period please return to your dormitories," said Harry suddenly in a firm authoritarian voice that he wasn't quite used to using.  
Slowly the remaining, staring Gryffindors made their way to their respective stairways but made a show of taking as long as they could to watch drama unfold until Harry snapped at them.

"I said _**go**_, before I dock points from my own house for everyone still standing here!" They left in a hurry and kept an ear out from a top the staircase along with the transfer students.  
Harry returned to Dennis who was craning up to look at him.

"Harry...wh..what happened? About last night? You went to look f-for him I know you did because I told you about Zabini-" at this point Dennis began to ramble and his sentances became disjointed to the point where they were mere random words gasped out one after the other. As if trying to fit as much as he could into on hyperventilation-esque breath would stop him from bursting into tears.  
Harry leaned down a bit and found himself putting his arms around the youngest Creevey who was bordering hysteria. He couldn't blame the boy either. He was just a kid and nothing prepares you for when someone close dies, especially not a cold informal Ministry letter that arrives hours after it actually happens. He didn't know what to say to Dennis, he couldn't gently shush him like a crying baby and he could hardly say 'It's okay Dennis' because it wasn't.

Things were not okay, nothing he could say could make it hurt less.

Dennis's fingers dug into Harry's skin so much it would leave a temporary print, but he found himself sobbing into the older boy's chest uncontrollably. Harry actually found Dennis's grip border-lining painful from holding onto him so tightly, but realized it was probably helping him from just collapsing on the floor. He suddenly could feel that Dennis was just shattering into little bits within his arms and Harry had happened to be there to stop him from being a sobbing heap on the floor.  
Something subconscious told the younger lad that if he held onto Harry tight enough he wouldn't collapse on the floor, there was something comforting about being in the arms of someone bigger then you, but even this wasn't helping it hurt less.

They stayed that way for about forty minutes until Dennis's breathing stabilized and Harry took him to the sofa chair and conjured up some tissues.

"What lesson should you have had now?" asked Harry softly.

"P-P-Potions," Dennis went paler, until Harry put a hand on his shoulder and calmed him down.

"Don't worry Den, I'll have a chat with Professor McGonagall later and she'll sort Professor Snape out so you won't get in trouble. Don't even worry about that now okay?" he always seemed to know what to say even if he himself did not think so.

"T-Thanks Harry,"

Dennis couldn't bare to look at the black letter anymore, so he gave it to Harry and sat numbly on the sofa while the Head Boy pondered what to do next.

'Oh Dennis, what am I going to do with you?' poor boy.

* * *

There are scary things in the Forbidden Forest, some creatures good, some, bad.

Others you don't want to be around long enough with to find out.

Fenrir Greyback had taken up residence, this much was certain but it was for good reason, something had been exterminating the werewolf clans and it was angering Voldemort who allied with them. Fenrir escaped and went back to his post as leader of the pack in hopes of finding out what was trying to exterminate his kind. It was something far ancient and older then he could have believed.

The creatures that were killing off the werewolves were a clan of their own, an ancient clan which had been around since the first of their kind, hell even some of the ancestral ones were still walking about, alive in some sense. The centaurs steered well clear and stuck to guarding the secrets valued by their kind and tried to remain at a harmony with the dangerous opposing clan.

They were intelligent, they were fast, they were strong, they were The Angels With The Broken Halos.

They had targeted Horace Slughorn to keep the DADA position open, they wanted access into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and they could only get in if invited into the threshold.

An inner-circle member of the clan, son of the leader was the one to come up with the plan to get into Hogwarts, so they could claim Harry Potter to their side.

Why? Many reasons, political and power-wise, they knew he was the Chosen One and with the kind of power he wielded he could defeat their century old enemy -the werewolves.

The Angels With The Broken Halos were merciless and had drained a boy of all of his blood merely for blundering into the wrong place, if anyone ever found the body of Colin Creevey they'd find him as small and as pale as ever used a feast for the children of beasts.

Vampires.

* * *

McGonagall had been torn when she had seen that raven with a black letter swoop for one of her first years but almost immediately settled when Harry had gotten out of his place to murmur something to the boy in attempt to do some damage-control before any real damage happened. Now the Head of House could be found pulling the now-only-Creevey out of his lessons and thanking Harry for dealing with the situation.

She had the unfortunate job of eventually taking Dennis back home and having the discussion with his father that one of his sons had passed, and what to do with Dennis's future, whether he wanted grieving time off of school or if he'd even step foot in Hogwarts again.

McGonagall awarded Harry twenty points for taking initiative even if it meant exceeding his authority and keeping Dennis out of his Potions lesson as he received the shock, and stopped him from reaching a frenzied point that would require hospital-wing-shock-service.

Harry had been relatively quiet and distant the rest of the day and Ron and Hermione left him too it. They seemed to be doing that a lot recently under the assumption that he needed space and time alone.

Luckily there had been the new students who were easy for Harry to get on with. Yugi was anyway, Marik had tried to be a bit difficult at first but it didn't exactly work on someone like Harry. It's really hard to dislike someone with the heart the width of Egypt, as Ryou truly knew.

Harry sensed something off about all of them, like the gold things they carried around which bore an Egyptian cult-like style to them but he never 'nosy-d' about it. It felt like they were keeping things from him too, but he found them to be loosening up a bit when they eventually picked up on Harry's past shenanigans either through word-of-mouth or by reading publications which had taken it upon themselves to document the unfortunate near-death escapes of the Boy-Who-Lived.

When Marik brought those things up like the Philosopher's Stone, the issue with the Tri-Wizard Tournament, he'd immediately start tearing himself down negatively in attempts to disillusion any notion of 'hero' they drew from those tales.

"For everything good or amazing people think I did, there was something horrible that happened too. It's why I'm not proud of any of it," Harry said.

With Harry's gloomy expression that hurt to see on his usually kind face, they dropped the subject.

He saved the Philosopher's Stone, he killed Quirrell in the process.

He won the Tri-Wizard tournament, Cedric died and Voldemort came back because of him.

These are not things to be proud of.

* * *

A pale man smirked as he swaggered into Hogwarts with the headmaster's invite, he'd just gotten the job as Hogwart's new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and would start tomorrow.

Lets see how long he lasts.

* * *

Harry Potter found himself in a strangely awkward position.

Marik and Yugi had left to go to bed and Ryou had stayed down in the commons to finish his essay and Harry never went to bed early because he never got a good night's rest anyway.

"Today was a long day," Ryou said finally, putting down his Transfiguration essay on his lap. Harry moved over and sat beside him, eyes glancing at the essay which was neatly written out but got a bit -only a bit mind you- messier near the end but he must have gotten a bit tired by then, or distracted by his presence.

"You should get some rest," said Ryou hesitantly "-you've done a lot today,"

"Not enough, not quick enough, I should have noticed one of my own housemates was gone," muttered Harry bitterly as thought of Colin. He was the Head Boy, responsible for the entire student body and especially his own house but didn't even notice one of his fellow lions was gone most of the day!

"If I got there sooner maybe we could have gotten Colin back," he muttered "-we're two days into the official year and a student's already dead,"

Silence.

"You can't do everything Harry, at least you followed it up I-I guess that doesn't mean much now but there's hundreds of other students in the school too," said Ryou, glancing at Harry's head boy badge sported on the chest of his blazer pocket.

"I guess you're responsible for them too," that was well over 200 students, even with the responsibility shared among staff and other prefects a lot was put on his shoulders.

"Yeah," said Harry softly "-I suppose you're right," but the guilt was still in his voice.

"It's hard to keep track of one when you're looking after well over two hundred," reasoned the albino and whilst the logic made sense it was very hard for Harry to forgive himself for his lack of observation. The words did lighten the uncomfortable knot in his stomach though if only by a small degree, and it was nice to have someone bring him back down to Earth again. Usually it was Hermione who pointed out it wasn't his fault, but she and Ron had been so wrapped up in each other and 'giving space' to him that he was alone, alone while the darkness and guilt ate him up inside. They tried to be there for him but their increasing distance was making it hard, the transfer students were offering to be there for Harry by being his friend but maybe they'd go once they integrated with other fifth years. After all, Harry Potter was a sixth year, one of the white-uniformed clad 'super students' who was expected to hold the responsibilities of a mini-adult.

"Thank you Ryou," said Harry eventually, the boy flushed and gave back a small smile which Harry returned graciously. This caused Ryou to blush a bit, but to his internal relief Harry seemed a bit too oblivious to things like that to pick up on it.

"You should get to bed too, I'm on late night patrol today anyway," said Harry, turning away from Ryou and heading for the portrait hole after bidding him a good night.

Ryou Bakura wished Harry could stop being so nice, so that he had a reason to dislike him.

There was a small sinking in his chest when he let his thoughts wonder if Harry even entertained the notion of another male, let alone him.

Ryou told himself it was a stupid insta-crush, he hadn't even known the boy that long and Harry certainly didn't know him all too well.

_'Well then, maybe I should spend some time with him,'_

Or maybe this won't help his crushing at all, either way, the idea gave him the light flutter in his stomach. His mind flashed to how Harry had quite easily taken control earlier on in the day and had cleared the commons and let a first year cry in his arms, the day had a morbid air about it. It would linger for quite a while, but there was a bizarre calm about Harry that he couldn't pinpoint. If you ever got into the mind of someone that had been fortunate to be in Harry's comfort-embrace, his arms could trick the mind into thinking he was strong enough to keep a calm in the middle of a storm. It was the kind of thing Dumbledore could do through years and years of experience and gentleness with students, but Harry had this skill, which is probably why so many saw him as a mini-adult now.

Ryou sighed as he reached his dorm and crawled into his bed, his thoughts went to the littlest Creevey before they, for another frustrating moment unwillingly turned to Harry James Potter.

* * *

In the staff dorms of Hogwarts, in the resident DADA teacher's well-used room (from many different teachers previously taking the 'cursed' job) a pale man propped himself up on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. Mulling over plans in his head, not only lesson plans, but a much more sinister one as his thoughts trailed up to a rather famous boy, Harry Potter.

His mission.

With a dark smirk, a pair of small previously-hidden fangs made themselves known as he sank his teeth into his bottom lip slightly.

Harry Potter had no idea what was in store for him, and it'd be better for him if he came quietly.

Less messy that way.


End file.
